Perfect Days
If I had to choose my favorite movie, it would be Perfect Days.
The film shares a truth I hold about living. Being content is a mental state worth magnitudes above happiness. To accept, more so, to understand is essential to life. The mantras “this is life” and “I’m at peace” remind me to strive for contentment.
Hirayama
Wim Wenders uses Hirayama to demonstrate this truth. Hirayama is a Japanese toilet cleaner who follows a seemingly mundane daily/weekly routine. Wenders notably plays with how we “viewers” are acting as judges for Hirayama.
“Hirayama is a janitor; he is a failed man.”
“These rituals are only a way for Hirayama to cope with his sad life.”
It speaks to how we use people’s jobs to infer something of a person’s internal psyche. Anyone who works X job is “clearly miserable” or “lazy” or “boring” or “unsatisfied” or Y negative trait.
This is how Hirayama’s sister interprets Hirayama. She sees Hirayama as a janitor and demeans him in the later parts of the film. These scenes often leave viewers wondering how Hirayama is happy despite all of this.
“Other Minds” & “I”
Hirayama is happy simply because he has accepted how others will interpret him and moves on with his life. He doesn’t fight their perceptions, nor does he internalize them. He lives1.
The “problem of other minds” comes to mind when thinking about Hirayama. It asks the question of how you could definitively know a person’s internal mental state without needing to make the leap of assumption inference.
Hirayama has access to his “I”. He knows his own feelings. He knows himself if he truly is miserable or in abject sorrow throughout his day-to-day. He is fine with others misunderstanding him. Rather than correct them, he continues living as he always has.
To read further2 see: “Question of the Chariot”
Miscellaneous
- The website for the movie inspired me to learn more about design.
- The architecture of the bathrooms shown throughout the film was simply stunning.
- The soundtrack of the film are all old classics.