Simplicity is beautiful and moving in Wim Wenders’ gem Perfect Days, about a Japanese cleaner in harmony with routine. Cannes praised lead actor Kôji Yakusho for his delicate performance.

Named after the famous Lou Reed song, Perfect Days provides a glimpse into the daily life and work of a man named Hirayama. He seems perfectly happy with his seemingly simple existence in Tokyo. The arrival of niece Niko may reveal something more about her secretive uncle. Lead actor Kôji Yakusho swept Cannes with his serene performance and was named the best actor in the competition by the jury.

For director Wim Wenders, also present at the festival with the 3D portrait Anselm, this tender character study marked a return to Japan almost 40 years after the documentary Tokyo-Ga about master filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu. The spirit of Ozu shows itself here in the bittersweet, wholesome and silent beauty that captures small gestures and pleasures with great empathy. Like Hirayama catching sunlight through the foliage of trees with his analog camera.

Note: Japanese spoken, English subtitles