Cannes 2023: ‘Good Days’ in Tokyo are Easy But Nonetheless Enriching
by Alex Billington
Might 29, 2023
Everybody is aware of that well-known Lou Reed track that goes, “Oh it is such an ideal day! I am glad I spend it with you…” This timeless traditional tune is the place this movie’s title Good Days is from, however it’s additionally an vital a part of the movie – it is one in all songs that Hirayama listens to a couple instances whereas at house or driving round in his little van. Good Days is without doubt one of the newest narrative characteristic movies created by iconic German filmmaker Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas, Wings of Want), a ardour challenge that he has been engaged on for years. It simply premiered within the Fundamental Competitors on the 2023 Cannes Movie Competition, and the fantastic Japanese actor Kōji Yakusho received the Finest Actor prize on the finish of the pageant. It is definitely one in all my favourite movies from Cannes, and Yakusho completely deserves this award. The movie jogs my memory in some ways of Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, one in all my all-time fave Cannes premieres – each are poetic and quietly shifting, whereas additionally being charismatic and nuanced of their deep understanding of the less complicated lives of blue collar employees.
On this movie, the principle character actually has a blue collar – his work uniform is a blue jumpsuit that he wears all day lengthy whereas cleansing bogs. Kōji Yakusho stars as Hirayama, who works as a humble cleaner for The Tokyo Bathroom Undertaking. Whereas the movie is fictional (with a script by Takuma Takasaki and Wim Wenders), these public Tokyo Bogs are fully actual. Hirayama lives a quite simple life in a really primary one room residence in Tokyo. He wakes up early each morning, places on his uniform, drives round city and cleans up bogs, takes breaks and will get some meals from small outlets that know him properly, then washes himself at a public bathtub earlier than returning house to hearken to music and/or learn his books. This very primary routine is vital to him, and it retains him calm and picked up. His encounters with strangers, regulars (together with a homeless man), animals, trash, and extra, are part of the unusual quirks of his job. He loves timber and carries a movie digicam with him, snapping photographs when he is on his breaks sitting in Tokyo’s pretty parks. Someday his niece reveals up at his house. The story follows Hirayama on a collection of sudden encounters that reveal extra about him.
Good Days is one other particular gem of a movie, and I am glad that I took the time to take a seat with it and delight in its cheerful attraction. I loved it immensely, partially as a result of I really like Japan and I like Tokyo, partially as a result of it is only a breath of contemporary air with a narrative reminding us methods to respect all of the small issues in life. Even when your job is to scrub bogs, which is commonly thought of one of the disgusting jobs on this planet, you’ll be able to nonetheless be a healthful, pretty, humble one that appreciates magnificence and nature and all of the totally different sides of humanity. Anytime a random Japanese individual comes working to the restroom whereas he is nonetheless in the course of cleansing, Hirayama patiently pauses and with out saying a phrase lets them in to alleviate themselves. He’s such a pure and virtuous individual, and there is one thing empowering in watching his assured efficiency on display. The movie additionally options a few of the finest Tokyo cinematography since Kiarostami’s Like Somebody in Love (at Cannes 2012). Oldies performed on cassette tapes make for the best soundtrack in any movie on the fest. There is not a track I might swap, or a scene I might reduce, it is completely uplifting & rejuvenating from begin to end.
At its core, Good Days is a deeply shifting Buddhist movie. It is truly exhibiting us the life of somebody who’s as near enlightenment as anybody by following the identical path of the unique Buddha, Siddhartha. He has given up every part to stay this extraordinarily merely life, and in doing so is enriching the souls and the lives of everybody else he encounters all through his each day routine. As primary as his days could also be, they’re nonetheless so wealthy in distinctive moments and he is nonetheless empowered by the power that fills all beings and all areas on this planet. It is a poetic movie, however I additionally consider it is a very spirtuual movie, and I believe at this level in his life Wim Wedners needs us to study a lot from Hirayama and the way he lives. As a substitute of trying down on a bathroom cleaner, we ought to be trying as much as him and his life and the way he brings a lot mild to this world. Even when he is working by means of his personal darkness, there’s nonetheless a lot heat radiating from inside him. I wish to hang around with him, hearken to music, and roam round Tokyo with Hirayama – I believe it might be a life-changing expertise. Fortunate that we’ve got this movie to take pleasure in anyway… All of us want a number of of those “excellent days” to really feel energized by.
Alex’s Cannes 2023 Score: 9 out of 10
Comply with Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing
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