Japan selects "Perfect Days" by Wim Wenders for the international feature category at the Oscars in 2024.

 As its nomination for the 2024 Oscars in the best international film category, Japan has chosen the delicate drama Perfect Days, directed by German Wim Wenders, which had its world premiere at Cannes earlier this year to rapturous praise.

The movie depicts the daily activities of a Japanese man in his late middle age who cleans restrooms in Tokyo. Koji Yakusho's nuanced portrayal of this straightforward, respectable man earned him the renowned best actor prize at Cannes. The movie also won the Cannes Ecumenical Jury Prize.

The selection marks the first time Japan has submitted a film to the Oscars that was not helmed by a Japanese filmmaker. But aside from the director, Perfect Days is Japanese through and through, featuring an all-Japanese cast performing only in the Japanese language. Produced by Master Mind Limited (Japan) and Spoon Inc. (Japan) in collaboration with Wenders Images (Germany), the film is an official Japan-Germany co-production.

David Rooney, the senior critic for The Hollywood Reporter, described the movie as "ineffably lovely" in his Cannes review.

Wenders goes back to Japan to film his best narrative feature in years, Rooney said, nearly four decades after following Ozu's footsteps with the documentary Tokyo-Ga. The Japanese phrase komorebi, which depicts the shimmering dance of light and shadow through a tree's leaves with each flickering movement distinct, serves as the inspiration for the film's deep feeling of place.

The Match Factory is in charge of the movie's overseas sales, but Neon has already secured the U.S. distribution rights, and Mubi has chosen to release it in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Turkey, and Latin America.