Perfect Days

This movie subverts comfort expertly. Hirayama, a man of an untold sorrow and hurt, driving to what many would consider a dead end job, should come to a close in an expected sobering sadness. But in the closing 60 seconds, in what is the film’s second great subversion, despite it all, in the words of the late great Nina Simone, is indeed “feeling good”. In his warm embrace of this life’s tremendous melancholy, he displays a joie de vivre that anyone, despite all the strife they may face, can attain. It is in this fashion that Wim Wenders subverts comfort, he isn’t telling you “everything will be alright”, he’s telling you “life might suck, but you’ll find joy nonetheless, and the music will be REALLY fucking good.”