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PERFECT_DAYS

                                             March 22, 2024


"Perfect Days" isn't quite a Perfect Movie--
but it's pretty close.                             My first reaction: not up to
                                                   the level of Wim Wenders in
The texture of life of this guy who works his      his prime. But then, I keep
blue collar job, enjoys trees, visits the          *thinking* about it, this
osento, chats with a bar hostess/ownder--          movie isn't leaving my head
almost the only person he voluntarily talks        any time soon.
to-- is all quite well done, but it's also
fairly straight-forward, fairly slow
according to the now-standard "slice of life"
genre...

I could pile on the quibbles:

I realize a lot of people loved the closing
scene, but for me that long play of
alternating expressions of happiness and
sadness would've been stronger if it were a
little shorter and more subtle-- I liked the
first moment when a tiny touch of sadness
broke through his smile.  One or two little
touches like that would've gotten it across
nicely.

I thought the dream sequence montages were
good, but after awhile they seemed             Dangerbaby reminds
implausibly one note.  He never dreams of      there is this one:
any of the women?                              the eye of the asian
                                               blond woman who
                                               kissed him on the
                                               cheek.

                                                     A second viewing
                                                     is probably in
                                                     order...


   But then, there are a lot of little bits that
   are pretty brilliant... the woman wiping her
   kids hand, the shadow tag...


        I like the back story of this movie:
        a company that had done some slick
        architectural remodeling of a dozen
        or so public toilets in Tokyo was
        trying to hire Wenders to do a short
        film about it--

        He instead proposed a feature-length
        film, and started selling them on the
        character he had in mind...

            Because no matter how
            slick the architecture,
            there are human beings
            scrambling around             Call it product placement if you
            maintaining them, a           want-- or some rich guys
            sub-class ignored by          deploying a sanitation man for
            the many.                     their reputation-- but myself, I
                                          think this is a nice example of
                                          taking the money but tweaking the
                                          boss's nose.


                And featuring music
                by Patti Smith and
                Lou Reed is an easy
                way to wind me over.



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