Perfect Days

Set in the quieter corners of Tokyo’s bustling Shibuya district, Perfect Days follows Hirayama ( Kōji Yakusho). He’s a middle-aged toilet cleaner, responsible for cleaning the city’s architecturally-designed, Wallpaper*-worthy public loos (they’re part of The Tokyo Toilet, a real-life urban renewal project). It’s a task this taciturn, diligent man approaches with the same care he affords his treasured household plants.

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Like a Japanese Jeanne Dielman, Hirayama’s daily routine is carved in stone: pick up a coffee from the vending machine outside his small apartment, clamber into his van for his daily rounds, soundtracked by his collection of American new wave album on the car’s tape deck (yes, Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’ gets an airing). It’s a solitary life where his daily tasks act as a kind of medicine against loneliness.