Wim Wenders: “My ode to the simple life”

THEThe title is already a stance, and without irony: Perfect Days. Almost like Lou Reed’s song, of course, but above all like the “perfect days” of Hirayama, a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo satisfied by a (solitary) life that always flows identical to itself work-music-reading-taking care of plants. With a single hobby: taking photos of komorebi, the light that filters through the leaves of the trees. Magical, indecipherable. Impermanent. It is possible to transform such a small story into the film that now represents Japan in the Oscar race, and that has already been worth it to the protagonist, Koji YakushoThe award for best performance at the Cannes Film Festival? Possible, if the director is Wim Wenders, a monument to the history of cinema who at 78 still has a lot to say. Necessary, personal. And universal.

“I would change profession”

«There is so much happiness, there is so much joy in Hirayama’s existence: I think that, seeing him, many people envy him a little. Me, for example! From now on I would change and give up the cinema to sanitize the services. You are my witnesses!” she concludes with a laugh. He too knows that he has said it in a big way, he knows that he could be considered unbearably snobbish if we didn’t know his story: a former aspiring doctor following in his father’s footsteps (“I loved helping the sick in hospital: washing them, feeding them, shaving them”), struck by painting ( left Düsseldorf to study in Paris) and finally – at just twenty-two – seduced by the classics seen every day at the Cinémathèque française, where he took refuge with the excuse of escaping the cold of the bedroom bohemian.

Existential questions

Since then the list of masterpieces has been long (from Paris, Texas to The sky above Berlin), united by existential questions. Wenders is convinced: what we do with sincerity, loyalty to ourselves and love is transmitted, shared and has an impact. Therefore, even a film can have a positive function. A vision which, self-analytically, he explains like this: «Perhaps it is a legacy from my doctor father, whom I admired: he knew the name of every patient, sitting on the edge of their bed he looked at them, touched them, spoke. That’s what a good doctor is. Basically, that’s what I tried to achieve with cinema.”

Bathrooms & starchitects

But how did the rather singular idea of ​​setting the action in bathrooms come about?
From a proposal that I received last year from a non-profit association: “You would be interested in shooting a series of short films linked to an important social project, 14 public toilets built by great architects (Tadao Ando and Kengo Kuma in the lead, ed)?”. I saw the buildings in Shibuya (a neighborhood that I love) and, considering that I was already in the grip of an attack of nostalgia for the city, I accepted. On one condition: that the series be transformed into a single film.

Why does the Land of the Rising Sun fascinate you so much?
I appreciate the sense of service and the “common good”. Once – I was there for the filming of Until the end of the world – a friend from the United States came to visit me, and was amazed by the quantity of masks (thirty years ahead of the pandemic!): “Are they terrified of catching a simple virus?”. “They are not terrified. They fear they have a cold and want to protect others.” He really didn’t want to believe me… And the concept of a public bathroom is very different from that of us Westerners: I wouldn’t hesitate to define it as a mini-sanctuary of peace and dignity. Japan has long been my “spiritual homeland”.

Cees Nooteboom in Infinite circles (Hyperborea) states that we must resign ourselves: it is impossible to completely understand its culture.
I agree: the more I see, the less I understand. But that’s okay. Yasujirō Ozu’s films represented my cinematic education and more, with those stories of family rules, fathers, mothers, children, love, death… I considered him a dad, then I had to give up.

At what?
For a while I lived in America, and there I realized that I was a damned German, that I would remain one and that I had to accept it. A romantic German, though. (smiles)

Fear Of Missing Out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZvsWyoS_tU

This can be understood from the description of the protagonist of Perfect Dayswho – we understand – comes from a wealthy background and has consciously chosen a humble job.
This man represents a small piece of utopia. The feeling of true fulfillment is missing in our lives: he is greatly missed, I’m the first to admit it. The terrible disease of the times is the fear of missing something, while Hirayama’s main characteristic is that he lacks nothing.

An acronym was even invented: Fomo (Fear Of Missing Outfear of being excluded).
On our devices we have Netflix, Amazon, Apple and the rest, as well as a “music library” of millions of songs: it is impossible to watch or listen from start to finish. He, however, has everything he needs.

What is the secret to “contain” insatiability?
If you pay attention to it, you realize that you need less: you appreciate what you have and you enjoy it. Hirayama doesn’t have a stereo, he can’t indulge himself on Spotify: he has the cassettes where he recorded his favorite songs, the same ones from when he was young, which he has kept. And he continues to be happy when he puts Sitting on the Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding.

“Vintage cassette tapes”

There are hits from the ’60s to the ’80s: from the Kinks to the Velvet Underground to Patti Smith… In reality, it seems like your personal playlist: did you bring old cassette tapes to the set?
If I had them, I would have made a fortune! It’s not a joke when, in the film, it says that a vintage cassette can cost 120 dollars! Walkmans are also coming back into fashion, although I mostly see people walking or skating with these huge headphones on their heads, blasting music at very high volume into their ears. Too bad, silence is a precious thing to enjoy! Particularly at night, since I need to sleep with the windows open.

Did he throw away his tapes?
Yes. Right during the pandemic I moved to a less spacious place, I had to get rid of a lot of stuff, and it wasn’t easy: I’ve been a collector all my life. I collected records, books, rocks, cameras… Shelves upon shelves. Getting rid of most of the items was good, letting them go was soothing.

“I was born an optimist”

Let’s get to his “perfect day”.
A day that starts early. I love being busy on set because you have to wake up early, no matter how much you’d love to stay in bed. And you have to discipline yourself. I’m undisciplined myself. You are required to be truly present, able to observe details that are not so obvious, pay attention to each person: a film is a collective work and you can even notice if the electrician or the sound engineer is unhappy…

Are you optimistic?
But yes, I would say I was born an optimist: I have always felt that pessimism gets you nowhere. I try to enjoy every moment without projecting onto the future, an attitude you can cultivate.

Do you practice meditation to “cultivate”?
Not strictly speaking: I try to stay one hundred percent in the moment. I’ve tried meditating but I think it’s too hard for someone who tends towards restlessness.

“Places of the heart”

But Perfect Days it is the opposite of restlessness, it is the praise of routine…
Routine is not monotony, it contains freedom! The beauty of keeping a regular, apparently identical rhythm is that it allows you to appreciate the daily micro-variations: if you learn to stay in the here and now you discover that it is not a repeated sequence, but an infinite chain of moments unique, unique encounters. If you go to the same place for dinner every night it’s never the same. I like going to the usual places, where you show up and, without even ordering, they serve you your favorite drink.

We can confirm: years ago we went to a restaurant in Berlin that, according to Lonely Planet, is his favorite. And in fact she was there at dinner…
(smiles) Why change if you’ve found what’s best for you? I don’t feel like I’m missing out if I don’t experience every new restaurant that opens in town. For me to abandon one, it really has to close…

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