MUBI, the global distributor, streaming service and production company is pleased to announce the theatrical release date for Wim Wenders’ heartwarmingly tender character study Perfect Days starring Koji Yakusho, whose breathtaking performance saw him win Best Actor at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Selected as Japan’s official Best International Feature Film entry to the 96th Academy Awards, the film will be released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on 23 February 2024.
A highly anticipated return to fiction feature filmmaking from Wim Wenders, Perfect Days takes the writer-director to Tokyo to tell a story celebrating the hidden joys and minutiae of Japanese culture. Koji Yakusho stars as Hirayama, a contemplative middle-aged man who lives a life of modesty and serenity, spending his days balancing his job as a dutiful caretaker of Tokyo’s numerous public toilets with his passion for music, literature and photography. As we join him on his structured daily routine, a series of unexpected encounters gradually begin to reveal a hidden past that lies behind his otherwise content and harmonious life.
Combining a refreshingly unstereotypical depiction of the Japanese capital with a soundtrack comprised of iconic hits from the 60s and 80s, this is a subtle, shimmering and ultimately life-affirming reflection on finding beauty in the everyday world around us.
Wim Wenders is an Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning director best known for his films Paris, Texas (1984) and Wings of Desire (1987) and is considered one of the most important figures in contemporary film. In addition to his multiple prize-winning feature films, Wim’s work as a scriptwriter, director, producer, photographer and author also encompasses an abundance of innovative documentary films – including the Oscar-nominated documentaries Buena Vista Social Club (1999), Pina (2011), and The Salt of the Earth (2014). In 2015, Wenders received the Honorary Golden Bear for his lifetime achievement at the Berlin International Film Festival and in 2022 he was awarded the Praemium Imperiale, also known as the “Nobel Prize for the Arts”, by the Japan Arts Association.
