A haiku is a traditional form of short Japanese poetry that captures a single fleeting moment in time, often focusing on nature and simplicity. You know, something like master poet Matsuo Bashō's "An old silent pond... A frog jumps into the pond, Splash! Silence again."
"Perfect Days" is a haiku on the rhythms of daily life and a life-affirming meditation on simplicity. It's a beautiful and moving description of how we can find clarity, acceptance, and joy by embracing the current moment and allowing our lives to unfold one day at a time.
Throughout the entire two hours of this movie, we stay together with our protagonist Hirayama, a toilet cleaner in Tokyo, as he lives his life of quiet, lovely solitude, one moment at a time. There are no flashbacks, no exposition dumps, no cutaways to another time or place.
We never leave Hirayama’s side, and Hirayama himself never strays from being truly present in every single moment. The following video may open a door to better understand this movie, although I suspect we will all see something different in this movie that speaks to us.
I lived most of my life for all those countless tomorrows. Now that there are not many tomorrows left, I regret not having lived my yesterdays more deliberately, not having watched the sunlight shining through the leaves of trees, not having given myself to the invisible, transcendent beauty of the moment that only exists in the here and now.
Next time is next time; now is now.
