... well, not quite, although the quite spectacular public toilets of the Japanese capital certainly feature very heavily in this film, because the main character is a toilet cleaner.
Hirayama's life is one of routine. In the morning he wakes in his tiny apartment, folds away his bed linen, cleans his teeth, drinks vending-machine coffee, drives to work while listening to '70s Western soft rock, cleans some toilets (rarely wearing gloves, I noticed!), has lunch in a park, takes photographs of leaves, cleans some more toilets, has dinner in a café, goes home, reads a book, falls asleep and dreams of leaves. Weekends vary slightly, as they include trips to the bath house, to the laundrette and to the second-hand bookshop to buy that week's book. Occasionally things happen to add variety to the routine: there is the love life of his comedy assistant; the sudden appearance of his teenaged niece, running away from her mother; playing 'it' with the ex-husband of his favourite restaurant's owner.
You have to be in the right frame of mind to watch this film: its lack of any dramatic happenings and its slow (peaceful?) pace means it will not satisfy everyone. As Hirayama, Kôji Yakusho does a good job of creating a character who is endearing despite the fact he very rarely speaks: the viewer grows to like him because his face portrays the obvious enjoyment he takes in the world around him.
I would be very surprised if this does not make it onto the shortlist for the best foreign language film Oscar. It may even be the winner.
Hirayama's life is one of routine. In the morning he wakes in his tiny apartment, folds away his bed linen, cleans his teeth, drinks vending-machine coffee, drives to work while listening to '70s Western soft rock, cleans some toilets (rarely wearing gloves, I noticed!), has lunch in a park, takes photographs of leaves, cleans some more toilets, has dinner in a café, goes home, reads a book, falls asleep and dreams of leaves. Weekends vary slightly, as they include trips to the bath house, to the laundrette and to the second-hand bookshop to buy that week's book. Occasionally things happen to add variety to the routine: there is the love life of his comedy assistant; the sudden appearance of his teenaged niece, running away from her mother; playing 'it' with the ex-husband of his favourite restaurant's owner.
You have to be in the right frame of mind to watch this film: its lack of any dramatic happenings and its slow (peaceful?) pace means it will not satisfy everyone. As Hirayama, Kôji Yakusho does a good job of creating a character who is endearing despite the fact he very rarely speaks: the viewer grows to like him because his face portrays the obvious enjoyment he takes in the world around him.
I would be very surprised if this does not make it onto the shortlist for the best foreign language film Oscar. It may even be the winner.