PERFECT DAYS

Hello, this is Mitsuru Amano.

I watched a movie called "PERFECT DAYS."
The Japan depicted by a foreign director is a Showa-era world that suits Western music.

A taciturn toilet cleaner. He cleans the art-filled toilets of Shibuya.
He wakes up before the sun rises, waters the trees, puts on his uniform, and heads out.
He buys a canned coffee from the vending machine in front of his apartment and gets into his car.
He inserts a cassette tape.
"The House of the Rising Sun" plays as he drives down the road with the morning sun rising.

Ah, I never realized how well Western music fits the Japanese landscape; this is a world I love.
I used to make independent films on 8mm film back in the day, and this is a retro piece that makes me think, "This is the kind of movie I wanted to make."

Public baths, laundromats, basement bars, snack bars—they are all full of that Showa-era feeling, yet the Tokyo Skytree visible in the background matches them perfectly.
The photos he takes with his film camera are of sunlight filtering through the trees. He develops films of similar photos and tosses them carelessly into a box.
The morning sun, the evening sun, the light of the sun shines into the camera.

The first half depicts the cleaner's daily life in a matter-of-fact way. Just as I thought it would continue to end calmly without anything happening, several small events occur in the second half.
They seem like trivial events, but from the perspective of a life with nothing, they are things that move the heart deeply.
In his lonely life, emotions like joy, loneliness, and sadness involuntarily appear on his face.

Otis Redding really fits, doesn't he?

By the way, the aspect ratio of this movie is 4:3, the old television size.
Is there a particular focus on the screen size as well?
Come to think of it, Stanley Kubrick's final film, "Eyes Wide Shut," was also 4:3.
This screen size also adds to the retro feel.

The Western music that flows throughout the entire film is great, isn't it?

It was a very good movie.

That's all for today.
See you again.