Perfect Days: One of the most puzzling movies I’ve seen recently. (SPOILERS)

I was feeling pretty down recently and a friend kept insisting I watch Perfect Days, calling it life affirming. So I finally watched it, though honestly under less than ideal circumstances because there were a lot of distractions around me. My first reaction was that it was a simple movie and I did not think much about it afterward. When my friend kept asking what I thought, I just said yeah yeah I saw it, it was this quiet little Zen movie about a toilet cleaner who gives his job everything he has and enjoys the small things in life, has a hobby, is alone but not lonely and so on. Nothing that really stuck with me. She said that was more or less how she sees it too and that it is one of those movies that always makes her happy.

I did not think more about the movie but a few days later I was chatting online with someone who said they had just watched one of the most depressing movies about a miserable guy cleaning toilets. I asked if they meant Perfect Days?! And they said yes. I was like what the?!

I asked how it was depressing and they said it is about a man who has escaped reality, someone stuck in a boring routine who cannot handle the slightest change. That he is a man child who cannot form deep relationships and has created a life that tricks him into thinking he is happy while doing a job that gets zero respect. I said maybe in Japanese culture there is some honor in that work and they pointed out that if that were true, why was his sister so shocked by the life he was living, that he was cleaning toilets?

I said maybe he really is happy and if he is then who are we to say what he should be doing? The guy said that was nonsense because if he were truly happy he would not be reading a book about anxiety when his routine gets disturbed. He would not be smoking and drinking late at night after realizing that the bar mama is a real person with her own romantic history and not just a comforting part of his daily pattern. He said this is a man whose response to hearing someone is dying of cancer is to play a game of shadows, someone who refuses to grow up or face his past or his future or the reality of other people’s lives.

That conversation stuck with me. I am actually glad I talked to both of them because now the movie feels more alive to me. It is not a confusing film on its own, but it clearly brings out very different reactions in people.

My take now is that this is a man who had a rough past. Maybe an alcoholic father or a gambling father? Maybe he was abused? Or maybe he is autistic or has always struggled emotionally and finally burned out. Maybe there was a divorce or some trauma we only get hints of. It could also be a comment on how unforgiving the competitive culture in Japan can be for people who do not fit the mold. I do not know. But the director included those little details for a reason and they suggest something heavy behind the life he is living now.

At the same time I do not see his lifestyle as escape. I see someone trying to survive. He is not a monk who is perfectly at peace and this is not some pure Zen fantasy. He is doing the best he can and it's not easy but he has created a good routine. There is a kind of honor in that. I think he chose this life because it is what he needs right now and he really does find moments of happiness in it. The fact that he also carries so much pain does not cancel out those happy moments. THe movie is Perfect DAYS not Perfect LIFE. This is probably as good as life gets for him at this point and he is trying to live in the present and have good days, rather than drowning in the past or worrying about the future. Yes changes in his routine unsettle him because the routine is what keeps him grounded.

For me the movie is hopeful and warm but also sad of course. We can see his pain. We can see the inner struggle. He tries to do the right thing. He is a good person. And I am glad I watched it.

What you guys thought of the movie?