I started the first day of 2025 on the right note by soaking up the new year sun inside my living room with my cat while listening to Dire Straits’ Making Movies album.
Our cat Lucifer, getting his daily dose of Vitamin D.
And then I watched Dune: Part Two on the TV.
Apparently, this $190-million sci-fi flick received rave reviews from critics, who probably watched it on IMAX theaters complemented by gigantic speakers. However, since I was watching on my ancient 32-inch TV in my living room, I failed to see the whole point.
I switched off the TV halfway through the movie.
Fortunately, in the afternoon I stumbled on Perfect Days, a film by German director Wim Wenders starring Koji Yakusho, who also starred in The Eel, one of my favorite movies.
The film shows the everyday life of Hirayama, a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo who lives in a modest apartment in the vicinity of Tokyo Sky Tree. Hirayama listens to cassette tapes during his morning drive through the streets of Tokyo, takes photos of trees with his point-and-shoot Olympus film camera, and reads books in his apartment.
It’s a great movie, beautifully filmed, a meditation on our ephemeral life. I look forward to watching it a second or third time.
I also found interesting Hirayama’s preference in music and literature so I listed below the songs and books that appeared in the movie.
| Song | Artist | Year |
|---|---|---|
| The House of the Rising Sun | The Animals | 1964 |
| Pale Blue Eyes | The Velvet Underground | 1969 |
| (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay | Otis Redding | 1968 |
| Redondo Beach | Patti Smith | 1975 |
| (Walkin’ Thru The) Sleepy City | The Rolling Stones | 1964 |
| Perfect Day | Lou Reed | 1972 |
| Aoi Sakana | Sachiko Kanenobu | 1972 |
| Sunny Afternoon | The Kinks | 1966 |
| Brown Eyed Girl | Van Morrison | 1967 |
| Feeling Good | Nina Simone | 1965 |
The House of the Rising Sun is also sung in Japanese in the movie, the 1971 version by Maki Asakawa entitled 朝日のあたる家 (Asahi no Ataru Ie), and a piano version of Perfect Day by Patrick Watson is played at the closing credits.
A number of literary works also appear in Perfect Days.
Hirayama can be seen reading a Japanese translation of Faulkner’s The Wild Palms (also called If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem) in his apartment, and Trees by Aya Koda (幸田文 木).
| Book | Author | Year |
|---|---|---|
| The Wild Palms | William Faulkner | 1939 |
| Trees | Aya Koda | 1992 |
| Eleven | Patricia Highsmith | 1970 |
About Faulkner’s book:
What’s the first book
Hirayama would fall asleep
reading? Without hesitation,
Wenders immediately said,
“Probably Faulkner.” Faulkner
has no new paperbacks.
They’re only found in secondhand bookstores. The
spaces between lines in
paperbacks then were very
narrow, perfect for falling
asleep while reading.
Aya Koda’s Trees (幸田文 木)
One last thing, every morning Hirayama buys the Boss Cafe Au Lait from the small vending machine outside his apartment. I used to buy this too, but I find it now too sweet for my taste.
More about this film from the Perfect Days website.