A journey into Wim Wenders’ meditative cinema: Perfect Days, a breath of fresh air that celebrates the extraordinariness of the everyday through a personal visual and auditory reflection, capturing the landscapes of Tokyo’s working class and the philosophy of the hic et nunc. A photograph of Komorebi, the natural phenomenon of sunlight filtering through the trees.

Hirayama embodies the quintessence of Komorebi (木漏れ日), a japanese word describing sunlight shining through the leaves of trees, creating overlapping layers of light and darkness; a powerful metaphor for the central theme of this meditative cinema: a way to recognize and surrender to the invisible and transcendental beauty of the here and now.

“At a certain point in his life, Hirayama decided to leave a condition of extreme privilege for a simple life, cleaning toilets, and he does it with pleasure; he is happy. He lives modestly as a service person, invisible to others, but he sees everything. The routine is not a burden for him; instead, it gives him a lot of freedom. In our lives, the term ‘routine’ often carries a negative connotation, but he experiences it as a ritual, and each time he performs it as if it were the first.” (Wim Wenders)

Quelle: Perfect Days – EN – Muse