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Perfect Days



A perfect song that hits at just the right moment, the play of sunlight through leaves, a fleeting moment of human connection in a vast metropolis: the wonders of everyday life come into breathtaking focus in this profoundly moving film by Wim Wenders. In a radiant, Cannes-award-winning performance of few words but extraordinary expressiveness, Koji Yakusho plays a public-toilet cleaner in Tokyo whose rich inner world is gradually revealed through his small exchanges with those around him and with the city itself. Channeling his idol Yasujiro Ozu, Wenders crafts a serenely minimalist ode to the miracle that is the here and now.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• 4K digital master, approved by director Wim Wenders, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• New interview with Wenders
• Interview with actor Koji Yakusho
• Some Body Comes into the Light (2023), a short by Wenders, featuring a new introduction by the director
• Interview with producer Koji Yanai, founder of the Tokyo Toilet project
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by film critic Bilge Ebiri

And yet the inspiration (and much better film) Paterson is yet to be inducted into the collection!

Screenshot comparison between the Italian 4K and the Criterion courtesy of Barrett75 on the other forum: https://slow.pics/c/LyLsge39

The Italian encode is slightly superior but it doesn’t have English subtitles and the master has burnt-in Italian titles and credits, however there is a MUBI 4K upcoming in August which may be even better from a technical standpoint. The Criterion likely has better extras though.

Don't know how much better the encode is for the Italian release when it has chroma noise issues that even I can notice! Regardless, it doesn't look like much of a difference between the two.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Tue Jul 16, 2024 3:12 pm Don't know how much better the encode is for the Italian release when it has chroma noise issues that even I can notice! Regardless, it doesn't look like much of a difference between the two.

The Italian UHD has Dolby Vision FEL and may fix the chroma issues in HDR10 and SDR that way. I’ve seen this happening a few times but it obviously isn't ideal for everyone with projectors or SDR and HDR-only viewing environments. Looking forward to see what MUBI bring to the table and hoping we’re getting a comparison.

dda1996a wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2024 6:08 pm And yet the inspiration (and much better film) Paterson is yet to be inducted into the collection!

It's been in my kevyip for years, but I still haven't seen Paterson. However, as I was watching Perfect Days, I was getting associations with Akerman's Jeanne Dielmann... (in the film's almost obsessive documentation of routine, and eventually, things that disrupt that routine), Assayas's Summer Hours (in the steadfast avoidance of any real dramatic tension, but also because the impetus for what eventually became Perfect Days was a commission of Takuma Takasaki to showcase the artistically designed public restrooms that Hirayama cleans, in much the same way Summer Hours was supposed to showcase works in the Musée d'Orsay), and also Gerard Reve's novel The Evenings.

At any rate, a lovely, meditative film.

dda1996a wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2024 6:08 pm And yet the inspiration (and much better film) Paterson is yet to be inducted into the collection!

With Perfect Days having been one of the most wholly affecting films I've seen in years, this intrigues me. Didn't realize it was inspired by another film (and I watched the bonus features and interviews with Wenders, et al; maybe I wasn't paying attention if this was mentioned?). I'll be looking up Paterson.

I also thought of Paterson quite frequently when watching this. While I enjoyed this well enough -- I felt it was far less impressive (and moving) than Paterson.

Alas, the UHD disc would not load at all on either my Sony or Panasonic 4K BluRay players -- so I had to watch the regular BluRay version. I tried cleaning the disc (even though I saw no smudges) -- but that was no help.

What was the verdict on the UHD vs the MUBI?

denti alligator wrote: Sun Apr 26, 2026 11:11 pm What was the verdict on the UHD vs the MUBI?

Both aren’t that great but the MUBI has a slightly more homogeneous presentation in motion.