Wim Wenders’ ‘Perfect Days’ to Open Tokyo Film Festival

The Tokyo International Film Festival will open on Oct. 23 with a gala screening of Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-set drama Perfect Days. The festival also revealed that Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One, the 37th film in the enduringly popular Godzilla franchise, will close the event.

Perfect Days is set for its Asian premiere at the festival and will be presented by Wenders who is also serving as the Jury President of this year’s competition. The German filmmaker’s bittersweet feature stars Koji Yakusho as a simple Tokyo toilet cleaner whose past is revealed as he encounters various people. The film has been a huge critical hit since it debuted at Cannes this year, winning the French festival’s Ecumenical Jury Prize and a best actor award for Yakusho.

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In a statement, Wenders said, “I’m excited to be back at the Tokyo International Film Festival, happening 60 years after the death and therefore 120 years after Ozu’s birth, my declared master, which makes the occasion very special to me. I’m more than proud to present Perfect Days as the 36th TIFF’s Opening Film.”

Toho’s Godzilla Minus One is an apt choice to close Tokyo Fest, given the franchise’s long association with the event. Written and directed by Yamazaki, the period film takes place in the late 1940s, as postwar Japan is looking to rebuild but is now hit with a new terror. The screening of Godzilla Minus One will also coincide with the 70th anniversary of the monster that has so tormented, and captivated, Japan and the world.

“The Tokyo International Film Festival was the place where Godzilla made its debut.” Yamazaki said in a statement. “The opportunity to have an exclusive screening before its official release at such a prestigious film festival feels like destiny and is truly an honor.”

The Tokyo Film Festival runs from Oct. 23 — Nov. 1.

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