On May 26, local time, the new work "Perfect Days" (Perfect Days) by the famous German director Wim Wenders, which was shortlisted for the main competition in Cannes, completed its world premiere. At the press conference the next day, the 77-year-old Wenders answered various questions of media interest.

On May 26, 2023 local time, Cannes, France, the 76th Cannes Film Festival, the indoor press conference of the main competition nominated film "Perfect Day", director Wim Wenders attended. Visual China Map

When asked if there would be a third chapter in the so-called "Guardian Angel Duo" composed of "Under the Sky of Berlin" and "The End of the World", he denied this possibility. "I don't think I will make a movie about the concept of angels. If I will, maybe this time "Perfect Day" is already very close to this concept." Wenders said, "And my two angels , and now they have disappeared into the sky forever." - Peter Falk and Bruno Ganz, the leading actors of the above two works, have passed away successively.

"But the hero of "Perfect Day", the ordinary cleaner, is actually like an angel. Usually people come and go in front of him, but rarely notice his existence. For most people In other words, he is like an angel, invisible."

Stills of "Perfect Day"

"Perfect Day" was filmed in Japan, showing the daily life of the toilet cleaner played by Yakusho Koji. After its premiere in Cannes, the film received good reviews from the media and attracted six or seven distribution companies, including Sony Pictures, to bid for its global distribution rights. It is said that Neon Pictures is already in the leading position. Even, there are still many media predictions in the market that this year's Cannes Best Actor Award is likely to go to Koji Yakusho.

Actor Yakusho Koji attended the indoor press conference of "Perfect Day". Visual China Map

Historically, Wenders has participated in the Cannes main competition ten times. He once won the Palme d'Or with "Paris, Texas" in 1984. Jill Jacobs, the head of the Cannes Film Festival at the time, had not yet seen the officially completed film. In the case of "Paris, Texas", it was decided to select it as the main competition unit, and until the official opening day of the film festival, the sound mixing work of the film had not yet started. Fortunately, "Paris, Texas" is scheduled to appear in the second half of the film festival. At 7 o'clock in the morning on the day of the screening, Wenders took the film and arrived in Cannes by train, and will catch up with the screening schedule. In the end, the jury led by British actor Dirk Bogarde unanimously voted "Paris, Texas" to win the Palme d'Or, which made Wenders himself feel unbelievable.

Comparing the situation 40 years ago, Wenders said this time that everything is changing, and the Cannes Film Festival itself is no longer the same Cannes Film Festival. "At that time when people came here, all they thought about was movies and nothing else. This is no longer the case. What many people like is not the movies themselves, but the business of movies. In my opinion, business is business. Movies are movies. Although there are intersections and mutual achievements, the mainstream should not be business. The main focus should be on the movie itself. But the reality is that even in Cannes, the business behind it is the promotion of the movie itself. The main force. So everyone talked about various series of works, remakes, derivative works, even original works, they are all following prescriptions, and they all fall into the stereotype. But the result is often I'm very disappointed that this type of movie is going to be a box office success."

In an interview with the media before, Wenders emphasized that he was quite disappointed with the situation that the global film industry is now full of various remakes and series of movies. "It makes me sick because everyone in this industry seems to have their imaginations used on one thing, which is how to go back and forth on the same topic, instead of using their imaginations In new places where no one has gone before. To me, remaking something old is not narrative at all, it is not telling a story. And for me, the joy of making movies is to constantly Tell fresh stories, but let go of a story after telling it, instead of using it again and again to stir up cold rice."

Back then, Hollywood also remade Wenders' "Under the Sky of Berlin" into "City of Angels". As a result, the romantic film starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan also achieved considerable box office success, at least in the eyes of American audiences, it is also a classic in a certain sense. But in Wenders' view, although the two works are remakes, they are fundamentally different. "The essence of "Under the Berlin Sky" is to downplay the specific plot as much as possible, but in "City of Angels", the plot has become the main driving force of the whole story. In my "Under the Berlin Sky", in fact, it is only There are very few concrete plots, and "City of Angels" makes a big deal out of it."

This time at the Cannes Film Festival, in addition to the entry "Perfect Day", the 3D documentary "Anselm Kiefer: The Voice of Fleeting Years" (Anselm) directed by Wenders has also been screened earlier. Received good reviews from the media. For the 77-year-old, he can still maintain such a high level of creativity at this age, and he is somewhat surprised. "I remember thinking to myself that after the age of 75, I can almost rest and stop directing new films. But many times, as the saying goes, the situation is stronger than people, and I didn't expect to shoot two new films at once. .Of course, I am also a restless person, I like to make movies."

"Anselm Kiefer: The Voice of Time" Stills

The documentary "Anselm Kiefer: The Voice of Fleeting Years" tells the artistic life of German painter Anselm Kiefer (Anselm Kiefer), and it is Wenders's second use of 3D technology to shoot a documentary after "Pina" in 2011. Anselm Kiefer, who was born in the same year as Wenders, is the most eye-catching German expressionist artist in the past few decades. In addition to the attractiveness of his works, he often provokes people because of his daring to touch sensitive subjects such as the Nazis. dispute. Wenders said that he and Anselm Kiefer had known each other more than 30 years ago, and had always wanted to make documentaries for him, but they always lacked opportunities. This time, just in time for the epidemic, everyone slowed down in a hurry, and finally gave him the opportunity to calm down and shoot a 3D documentary for the sculptor and painter.

"I have always felt that 3D technology has great potential in image storytelling, but it has not been paid enough attention and use. Using 3D to tell stories can bring many possibilities that 2D does not have to the story, and add a lot of poetry, because It can bring the audience a special immersive feeling. So I have been encouraging my students and younger generations to make more use of 3D, but for various reasons, they seem to be a little afraid of it and dare not use it. Because they are afraid The pressure from distributors and theater owners, because for these people, 3D is purely a gimmick to add points to action movies, or it is mainly used on small audiences. They think that only children will be interested in this. As a result, 3D became off-limits for serious films, and art directors were afraid to use 3D for fear it would make their films look cheap."

However, the post-editing and production processes of 3D movies are complex and time-consuming. As a director, Wenders can only give general opinions during this process. The specific work still needs to be carried out by the post-production team, and he can't get involved. Coincidentally, several Japanese producers sent him invitations during this period, hoping that he could go to Tokyo and shoot an artistic short film about the beauty of toilets for them. Wenders, who was deeply influenced by director Yasujiro Ozu and has always had a strong affection for Japan, agreed without saying a word, and was not satisfied with the length of the short film, so he decided to use the toilet as the main scene to expand a feature film to .

Soon, the screenwriter Takasaki Takuma came to Berlin, and the two completed the script in two weeks. At that time, they had already planned to find Koji Yakusho as the starring role, and the title of the film was also settled: from the rock musician Lou Reed. Famous song "Perfect Day". Wenders said that he knew Yakusho Koji from "Talking about Love and Dancing" and "Babel", and admired his acting skills very much.

He also said that "Perfect Day" is a very Japanese story, which mainly explores the meaning of "cleaning" and "service" in our lives. Because for Westerners, the toilet is the dirtiest place, and has never had anything to do with culture. However, in the daily life of the Japanese, the toilet plays a different role and has a different meaning from that in the West. Of course, what the film really wants to talk about is not the toilet, but the protagonist who is responsible for cleaning, telling about his attitude towards life, which is an attitude of living in the moment.

Last year, "Perfect Day" was filmed in Tokyo. It took only 17 days for the whole process, plus more than 20 days of post-production. In the end, it came from behind and was completed almost at the same time as "Anselm Kiefer: The Voice of Fleeting Years". Under the strong suggestion of the Japanese producer, it was submitted to the Cannes film selection team on time, but unexpectedly entered the main competition unit.