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down with bureaucracy! humanity restored! love is the way :) extremely droll; my body softly tensed and relaxed throughout the entire watch. a very spot-on portrayal and message about the working class, bodies, labor, etc that felt very specific to Europe. Simone Weil is fist-pumping from another realm
i adored the soundtrack and dug the Finnish band cameo. at times i thought it reminded me of a less exuberant version of Another Round. obviously i can't go on without mentioning this film is a great campaign for showcasing that men 50+ are fine as hell... i'm specifically talking about the extras but like the main can obviously get it too. handsome without the self-awareness or care of being handsome but complete with the quiet, petulant self-destruction...mmmmm
i do rate a quiet film...not a silent film just a quiet one
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What a lovely little shadowbox of a film.
The plot concerns a quiet man, Hirayama, who works as a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo's Shibuya ward. And his highly structured, routinized way of living both on the job as well as his leisure time pursuits (his passion for music, played mostly on vintage cassettes in his van throughout the movie; nature photography done the old-fashioned analog way; and reading the works of authors such as Faulkner and Aya Koda). There are some scenes that are highly reminiscent of the way that Sofia Coppola depicted Tokyo in "Lost in Translation" - dreamy, impressionistic, focused on images of beauty and human emotion vs. script that "moves the plot along."
Tokyo is one of my favorite places in the world and it's reminding me I need to get back there soon.
PS: Uncle Lou Reed would have been very proud of this film had he lived to see it.
PPS: Boy is Koji Yakusho amazing in the lead role. No wonder he won best actor at Cannes last year for this performance.
Apr 11, 2024
Jan 24, 2024
Ok, it’s about a Tokyo toilet cleaner. And he barely speaks. But bear with me.
It’s a film that is luminous with beauty from a director nearing the end of his life (Wim Wenders is in his eighties.) And it says so much about what is important in life, and what isn’t …
Relinquishing complication, I think, is the key. Plus the quietness of simplicity. And the ability to cleave to a simple life - if you possibly can. And having the courage to be singular; to not care what others think of you (the ultimate freedom.)
Lessons, lessons, all the life lessons. I still think about the gift of this film, months after I was immersed in it.
I left the cinema … cleansed.
Feb 17, 2025
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nothing short of a spiritual advisor. here he is illuminating a truth I believe we all feel to be true when down and out but often forget/neglect out of allegiance to self-pity or the traps of misery. this could almost read as a hallmark card quote, but it exists elsewhere...so by default, it is its own thing.
I do not mean to be sentimental about suffering— but people who cannot suffer can never grow up, can never discover who they are.
Feb 13, 2024
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less attachment to identity markers and more-sensory driven living/being. staying conscious and in touch with our core essence and saying yes to life when the forces that be make it very easy to say no and cut ourselves off from others and the rest of the world. embodying this truth can ignite a sense of freedom and liberation that is a sexy balm...if you are into that kinda thing
Feb 10, 2024
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what a woman...
poster child for humility and peace
Feb 6, 2024