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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 following    
the conventions of the "slice of life"                               
subgenre.                                        It occurs to me that Wenders    
                                                 may deserve some credit for 
                                                 inventing "slice of life"-- 
                                                 at the very least, he was   
                                                 doing it before it became a 
I could pile on the quibbles:                    thing that gets done.       
                                                 
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 maintaining them, a     Call it mere product placement if      
           sub-class ignored by many.     you want-- or some rich guys using     
                                          a happy sanitation worker to           
                                          perserve their own 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 win me over.



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