Non-Japanese directors who film Japanese subjects don¡¯t always get them right ¡ª or even try. A prime example is Rob Marshall¡¯s 2005 period drama, ¡°Memoirs of a Geisha,¡± whose exoticized version of geisha culture was roundly bashed in Japan.
And then there is Wim Wenders¡¯ Zen-like ¡°Perfect Days,¡± which was selected as Â鶹´«Ã½ best international feature nominee for this year¡¯s Academy Awards, a first for a non-native, non-resident filmmaker. Also, star Koji Yakusho was awarded the best actor prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
Wenders has long been a passionate fan of Japanese cinema, as evidenced in his 1985 documentary, ¡°Tokyo-Ga,¡± about master director Yasujiro Ozu. But for all its Ozu-esque touches, such as shots of two characters moving in tandem, ¡°Perfect Days¡± expresses its maker¡¯s artistic identity and outsider¡¯s perspective to ¡ª pardon the wordplay ¡ª perfection.
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