I have been waiting for one movie to come out on any of the OTT platforms, seeing the praise from many in my “circle” and finally got to watch it - Perfect Days, a Japanese language film, by a German director. It is about a man who goes about his days cleaning toilets in Tokyo. Its dialogues could be printed in a handful of pages, very little is said. It shows the routines of a normal life, simple pleasures in life such as music, nature and books, not worrying about the tomorrows but living in the now, not living to others expectations, needing little, not taking on commitments for the sake of it and being satisfied with what one has.
I had written “change one thing a day” at the top of the daily journal, to remind myself to change some part of my routine every day, to avoid getting into comfort zones and declining. But this is the opposite - having the exact same routines every day. Same morning routines, same coffee, listening to 70s or 80s songs from cassette tapes, doing the work well, having same food at same place, looking at the nature and its small changes, cycling in the evening to a public bath, eating at the same restaurant, being served the same food with same comment from the same friendly waiter, reading a book till getting sleepy and entering a peaceful sleep.
I had been watching a few movies that just shows lives unfolding, but doesn’t explain, leaving the interpretation to the audience. “Show, don’t tell” philosophy. Afterwards I go into rabbit holes of online discussion forums like reddit to read interpretations, sometimes surprising ones where I missed noticing something. But it is good to make each of these our own, with our own interpretations. Most directors also want the same from their audience.
In this one, why does he stay alone? Is there something from the past that drove him to this way of living? Is the future going to be the same or will he want change? What about loneliness, needing human connection? He doesn’t react to people wanting to initiate connection, is that deliberate? What does the final scene mean - when the song “life is good” is playing in the background, is he crying from the happiness of his perfect days or mixed with sadness of the effort it takes to maintain his peace?
I liked that he is treating his job as something to be done perfectly. Someone remarks that the toilets will get dirty again, so why be perfect in cleaning it? Why create custom tools for it? Why look under the surfaces that no one might see, with a handheld mirror and clean there too? As a contrast to a co-worker who cleans absentmindedly, while looking at the phone or wanting to rush and finish so that he can take a girl out. Like Steve Jobs’ philosophy to do a good job with the side of a piece of furniture that is not seen by anyone, that is closer to the wall maybe, but even that to be polished just right. Or everyone who contributed to the Mac machine signing the motherboard of the computer - why make the innards of a gadget look good? There is personal satisfaction in that - to do a job well, that may not be seen by anybody, but just because it is the right thing to do.
“The world is made up of many worlds; some are connected, and some are not.”
The man and his niece were talking about him and his sister (her mother) living in different worlds. I used to think there are worlds or universes around us. Even entering a building that we might have passed by hundreds of times, but never entered - if we look out from there, to the familiar streets, it is a new perspective that we never had before. I used to try and look at my town with the eyes of a foreigner - what would they see and think? Or each person who passes us by - they are living in their own worlds, which may be very different from what I experience. If we enter the kitchen of a restaurant, the staff quarters of a hotel, inside of a football coaching centre, college for deaf/mute or an arts school - there are an infinite number of such worlds that don’t intersect with mine.
“Next time is next time. Now is now.”
They were talking about following the river to the place where it meets the sea, but he said next time, without planning when that next time will be. About living in the present, not in the past or future. Not making elaborate plans for the future. Being ok with what we have now.
I love the way songs are used in such movies, giving it new meaning or as a way to subtly explain the emotions of the moment. These days people make playlists that are helpful, such as this one. Incidentally the man asks which place is Spotify when his niece asks if the songs can be found on Spotify. Slow living it is - free of devices, social media, not knowing the latest meme. I read somewhere that over the years, the words in the song lyrics are becoming similar. Just like fashion, people, cities, books, movies, colours all becoming similar and trending to the average that the majority likes. It is time to rediscover older songs that were made when the lyrics were not written by a committee that tests it against a target group to predict the next super hit.
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