Wim Wenders’ ‘Perfect Days,’ in Competition in Cannes, Debuts Trailer (EXCLUSIVE)

Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-based Cannes Competition title Perfect Days has clocked a series of international deals for The Match Factory.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days,” which won the best actor award for Koji Yakusho at the Cannes Film Festival, has sold out worldwide. The Match Factory is handling international sales. As previously announced, North American rights went to Neon and France went to Haut et Court. Further sales included U.K./Ireland/Latin America/Turkey (MUBI), Australia/New Zealand (Madman), Benelux (Paradiso), China (DDDream), Italy (Lucky Red), Spain (A Contracorriente), Switzerland (DCM), Baltics (A-One Baltics), Bulgaria (Art Fest), CIS (A-One), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Aerofilms), Former Yugoslavia (MCF), Greece (Feelgood Entertainment), Hong Kong (Edko Films), Hungary (Cirko), Israel (Lev Cinemas), Poland (Gutek), Portugal (Alambique), Romania (Bad Unicorn), Scandinavia (Future Film) and Taiwan (Applause).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “Perfect Days,” which world premiered in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, is reminiscent – in some ways – of “Groundhog Day,” but whereas in the latter film Bill Murray’s character, Phil, is trying to escape the repetitive nature of his existence, in Wim Wenders’ film the protagonist, Hirayama, is “embracing it,” the German director tells Variety. Both films show the lead characters waking at the same time each morning, but whereas, in “Groundhog Day,” Phil is awoken by an alarm clock, in Wenders’ film, as he points out, Hirayama, played by Cannes best actor winner Koji Yakusho, “wakes up on his own, or he wakes up because there’s an old lady brushing the street outside, always on time. He doesn’t need an alarm clock. He doesn’t even own one.” There is a sense that this is a man in harmony with nature, and at peace with his existence, rather than wrestling with it.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Wim Wenders, whose immersive 3D portrait of artist Anselm Kiefer, “Anselm,” had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival as a Special Screening, is a passionate advocate of the 3D format, which he believes engages the human brain in ways that 2D fails to do. “You could just as well be brain dead in some movies, because the amount of brain activity is minimal. In 3D, however, your whole brain is aflame,” he tells Variety. “Parts of your brain are working to establish the space – which is something you’re doing yourself: you get two separate images on the screen and your brain is putting them together, just like you do in life with your two eyes. So, your brain is enormously active, but other parts of your brain are active as well – you are emotionally more involved as you are more ‘there’.

It’s a wrap for the 2023 edition of the Cannes Film Festival, where French director Justine Triet’s courtroom thriller “Anatomy of a Fall” has won this year’s Palme d’Or for best film.

The official synopsis for Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” is one of those rare occasions when a tightly-described premise encapsulates the immensity of a film: a janitor in Japan drives between jobs listening to rock music. In this case, the janitor is Hirayama (Koji Yakusho), an older man whose job is cleaning Tokyo’s elegantly designed public toilets.

“Perfect Days” makes a perfect debut.PERFECT DAYS. Did Wim Wenders just make his best film since UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD? Holy crap.Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” was the hero of the day, earning strong notices and the now-standard standing ovation.

A third Wings of Desire centering on the angels that watch over us, is not in the cards, German director Wim Wenders said today at the Cannes press conference for his latest in competition title at the fest, Perfect Days.

EXCLUSIVE: Neon is nearing a deal for North American rights to Cannes competition entry Perfect Days from The Match Factory in a deal pegged in the mid-to-high six figures.

Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, he is a modest toilet cleaner – and this gentle, philosophical character study is all the more mesmeric for it.The 77-year-old director’s fictional work has been overshadowed by his documentaries lately, but his new film, a fictional work which sometimes resembles a documentary, is a significant return to form for the director who won the Palme d’Or in 1984 for “Paris, Texas.” It begins by introducing us to the middle-aged Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) as he wakes up alone in his small flat. Once he’s cleaned his teeth, trimmed his moustache and spray-misted his plants – yes, no detail is spared – he puts on a boilersuit with “The Tokyo Toilet” printed on the back, buys a can of coffee from the machine by his building, and drives his blue van through the city’s forest of skyscrapers to the first of several public toilets he is due to clean.He treats every one of these as if it’s a royal throne, even using a small mirror – the kind that’s usually seen in bomb-disposal thrillers – to check for dirt that might be hidden from view.

The dignity of labor is explored with gentle humor and a very melancholy sense of joie de vivre in Wim Wenders’ second 2023 Cannes entry after his 3D documentary Anselm. Shot entirely in Japan, with very little English spoken, Perfect Days is an unusual film from a westerner since it does nothing to “other” a country that is often romanticized as a series of specific cultural signifiers (as in the well-meaning Lost in Translation, for example). It’s a compliment to say that Jim Jarmusch could have made it.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Before you ask, yes, Lou Reed’s rock standard “Perfect Day” does indeed make an appearance in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days”: on the protagonist’s stereo as suitably ideal sunlight pours into his small, neat Tokyo apartment, before swarming the soundtrack as we head out into the city on a calm weekend afternoon. If that sounds a little obvious, basic even, said protagonist Hirayama — a mellow, soft-spoken toilet cleaner beautifully played by Kōji Yakusho — would probably agree with a shrug. He’s into simple pleasures, not deep cuts. His solitary life is built around the things that make him happy and the work that keeps him solvent. He’s not inclined to wonder what other people make of it. Wenders’ film, in turn, is sincere and unassuming, and owns its sentimentality with good humor.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” is a hot property in Cannes, and it’s yet to even premiere. Several buyers are currently circling the Japan-set, music-infused title from master filmmaker Wenders, which bows in competition on Thursday. Sources tell Variety that interested parties so far include Utopia, MUBI, Magnolia, Sideshow and Janus Films and Sony Pictures Classics. Wenders’ “Perfect Days” follows Tokyo toilet cleaner Hirayama, who seems content with his simple life. Outside of his everyday routine, he enjoys his passion for books and, in particular, for music. Over the course of the film, a series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Maxime Rappaz’s debut film “Let Me Go,” which plays in the Cannes ACID sidebar, has been sold to Brazil and Taiwan. The film stars Cannes regular Jeanne Balibar in the lead role as a fiftysomething woman torn between her family commitments and pursuing her own desires. Every Tuesday, a neighbor takes care of Claudine’s son while she goes to a mountain hotel to meet men passing through. When one of them decides to extend his stay for her, Claudine is confused and finds herself dreaming of another life. Imovision has acquired all rights for Brazil, and will release the film in cinemas after a Brazilian festival premiere. “The mise en scène is excellent and Jeanne Balibar is extraordinary,” Jean-Thomas Bernardini, president of Imovision, commented.

Ed Meza @edmezavar German cinema is in Cannes with new works by Wim Wenders and films that explore Nazi propaganda, gender identity, economic crisis, romance, betrayal and fast cars. In addition to domestic films, a dozen German co-productions are screening in this year’s Cannes Film Festival lineup, including major works from the likes of Wes Anderson, Aki Kaurismäki and Jessica Hausner. Wenders is in Cannes with “Perfect Days,” which is vying for the Palme d’Or, and the documentary “Anselm” in Special Screenings. “Perfect Days” tells the story of a Tokyo janitor (Kôji Yakusho) who seems very content with his simple life, structured routines and passion for music, books and photography. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past. The Japanese-German co-production is sold by the Match Factory.

Catherine Bray When audiences consider 3D as a medium, the abiding image seems to be of items popping out from the screen — a limb here in “Jaws 3D,” a dildo there in “Jackass 3D” — and perhaps that is indeed how most filmmakers have used the medium. Not enough directors have capitalized on the ability of 3D to convey a sense of physical depth; fewer still have seized on the possibility of adding philosophical depth. Thank goodness, then, for Wim Wenders. The first of two new films by the German veteran in this year’s Cannes official selection, “Anselm” is a tour de force 3D 6K portrait of the artist Anselm Kiefer, both rich in ideas and breathtaking in technical execution. Though undoubtedly a powerful confrontation with some of the biggest themes art can tackle — mortality, permanence, being, nothingness, all the hits — “Anselm” remains an accessible experience, partly because of its manageable 93-minute runtime and partly because of its endlessly engaging imagery. There’s no reason any reasonably curious audience shouldn’t be able to switch on to its considerable pleasures. 

Though he is still mostly known for his lyrical, America-set road movie Paris, Texas, which won the Palme d’Or in 1984, Germany’s Wim Wenders does most of his best work when he’s back on home turf. The Berlin Wall, for example, provided the backdrop for his 1987 masterpiece Wings of Desire, in which philosophical angels roamed a divided city that was still trying to reckon with the shame of the Second World War. His new documentary, Anselm, is ostensibly the biography of a fellow artist, but it doesn’t take too much imagination to read it as a veiled autobiography, in that its subject isn’t so much a person as the way that life experience and intelligence combine to create art.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal has released the trailer (below) for Swiss director Maxime Rappaz’s debut feature “Let Me Go,” which will open the Cannes ACID sidebar on Wednesday. Set in a remote town in the Swiss mountains, the film features French actress Jeanne Balibar in the lead role. She plays the character of Claudine, a mother who has devoted her life to taking care of her son, sacrificing her own needs and desires. An unexpected love affair causes Claudine’s carefully controlled world to unravel, “reviving in her an intense thirst for freedom and, at the same time, a painful questioning about her future,” Rappaz says.

Reba McEntire couldn't be more excited to be officially joining  as a season 24 coach!NBC announced on Monday that the country music legend will officially be stepping in for departing coach Blake Shelton for the next season of the long-running singing competition, set to premiere this fall.Reba will draw from her iconic career as she shares her expertise with hopeful up-and-comers, joining veteran coach John Legend and returning coaches Niall Horan and Gwen Stefani.The news comes after Reba served as the celebrity Mega Mentor for season 23, advising Blake Shelton and his fellow coaches -- Kelly Clarkson and newcomers Niall and Chance the Rapper  -- and their team members ahead of the Knockout Rounds. ET's Cassie DiLaura spoke with Reba at live semifinals on Monday night, where the singer and actress shared why now was the «perfect» time for her to join the show — after turning it down when was first in development in 2011.«The first time I ever heard of I saw the tape from Holland's [version of the show],» she recalled. «They asked me to do it, and I turned it down.»«But I think timing is everything,» Reba added.

Wim Wenders could be the Bob Dylan of European cinema: always around, always the same, always different. Sometimes he’ll arrive in Cannes with a documentary, like 2018’s Pope Francis: A Man of His Word, and sometimes he’ll come with a work of fiction, like his timeless 1984 Palme d’Or winner Paris, Texas. This year, he’s coming with one of each: Anselm, a 3D portrait of artist Anselm Kiefer, and Perfect Days, the story of a Tokyo toilet cleaner. Ironically, Wenders thought he’d have more time on his hands after the pandemic and moving on from his role at the European Film Academy. How wrong he was…