Start the week with a film: In ‘Tokyo Sonata’, the unequal music of an emotionally distant family

In what is possibly a programming quirk, two Japanese movies on MUBI have male protagonists who clean toilets for a living. Wim Wenders’s recently premiered Perfect Days (2023) is about a toilet attendant who follows a fixed daily routine. Hirayama’s single-minded dedication is part of a larger make-up that includes a solid work ethic, a preference for analogue technology (cassette tapes, film cameras) and a love for the small joys of life.

Through Perfect Days, Wenders pays tribute to the Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu, who was also the subject of his documentary Tokyo-Ga (1985). As in Ozu’s later films, the camera in Perfect Days is on the floor, observing Hirayama from up close. Gentle, sensitive and inward-looking, Hirayama barely says anything but conveys a world of detail through his facial expressions and body language. Koji Yakusho’s stupendous central performance is proof that a masterful actor can make all the difference to an imperfect movie.

While Perfect Days is poignant and affecting, the film offers a simplistic view of the nature of Hirayama’s employment. Hirayama has been assigned to Instagram-friendly facilities located in a fashionable neighbourhood. The movie is a hard swallow for Indians...

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