Perfect Days: Japanese Film Makes Oscar Nomination Shortlist

Perfect Days has made it to the shortlist of the 96th Academy Awards nominees for the Best International Feature Film category.

The film by German director Wim Wenders still has to compete against 14 other foreign films to be selected as an official nominee for the Oscar Cup.

Perfect Days itself follows the story of a janitor named Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) whose daily routine is cleaning toilets in Tokyo.

Here is the synopsis of the movie Perfect Days.

The story of Perfect Days centers on a character named a middle-aged Japanese man named Hirayama (Koji Yakusho). Hirayama works around Tokyo cleaning toilets on a daily basis.

Hirayama works in his van while listening to his favorite songs, ranging from classic rock to pop, from The Rolling Stones to Patti Smith.

Hirayama also enjoys reading books when he is at home. He is also meticulous about the plants he takes care of at home, and enjoys photography.

He is ready to go through his monotonous routine every day when he puts on his jumpsuit uniform.

However, Hirayama's unremarkable life is disrupted one day when his niece Niko (Arisa Nakano) comes to see him.

Niko asked Hirayama to be allowed to stay overnight. Not only that, Hiraya was also approached by Niko's mother and brother that her father was suffering from dementia.

However, the family members are surprised to learn what Hirayama does for a living.

Perfect Days is a drama film directed by Wim Wenders, a German director. In addition to directing, Wenders also wrote the film's script with Takuma Takasaki.

Koji Yakusho is believed to star in Perfect Days as the main character named Hirayama.

Tokio Emoto, Arisa Nakano, and Aoi Yamada became Yakusho's co-stars in the movie. In addition, Perfect Days is also enlivened by Yumi Aso, Sayuri Ishikawa, Tomokazu Miura, and Min Tanaka.

Perfect Days has played at various prestigious film festivals starting from the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

The film was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival to the New York Film Festival.

Perfect Days finally hits Japanese theaters today, December 22, 2023, after traveling the world.