Perfect Days (2023)
I already seen this movie circulating on the internet long enough, and decided to watched it after I saw this video that compares ambition vs satisfaction portrayed in cinemas. Around that time also, I’ve also been consuming a lot of Wu Wei (無為), a philosophy about not-acting or non-doing. More on that later. I hope. Anyway, the movie resonates around that philosophy. A philosophy that emphasize more about slowing down and observing more of what is around us. The movie captures that by a slow pace that shows a lot of mundane, everyday things that are actually beautiful.
Most of the time, when we are too busy with our lives, we overlooked ubiquitous things in our lives. Sometimes it is a sky that is framed by trees around it, sometimes it is a shadow casted by sunlight that is hitting the trees (木漏れ日), it can be anything, as long as we slow down to appreciate those things.
In this movie, the protagonist is a toilet cleaner, which may be seen as a low-class job, even in a developed country like Japan. But we see him very content with his life. Doing his work with satisfaction. Of course, sometimes shit happens, but what can you do? You live with it as it does not happen every day. You continue life. You wake up, see the sky, and be grateful that you’re still being able to see the sky. He is mindful of what he has and what the world provides. Hey may seems old school buy still listening to cassettes. He may not be up to date with the latest news, but he enjoys buying secondhand books. He does not chase happiness; he is satisfied with the simplest things, which, makes him happy. As we should.
今度は今度。今は今。
“Now is now, next time is next time.” — Hirayama (Perfect Days)
No generative AI was used in the process of writing.
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Hartzel 
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