Other events introduce new intervals in Hirayama’s days. The ex-husband of the cook at the restaurant he frequents appears, a terminally ill man who forms a bond of friendship with him. In addition, a young woman friend of his coworker shows him how to use the Spotify music app, which Hirayama prefers to avoid, continuing instead to listen to his favorite artists on cassette tapes. Songs by Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground and The Rolling Stones play through the tape player in his van.

Wenders places us in a story with evocative songs, few words and many poetic images. The Japanese notion of komorebi appears, referring to sunlight filtering through the leaves of a tree and the resulting shadows. The film reminds us, as if that were not enough, of the need to return to what is essential and simple for human life in a world that is increasingly complex and liquid, in Bauman’s terms, a world that demands constant change without leaving room for stillness and where haste, chaos and individualism prevail.

“The violin freezes, the dancer delays” is a line from a poem by Goethe that Martin Heidegger highlighted in one of his writings on the notion of time, not clock time, and that the philosopher Byung-Chul Han also cites in his book The Scent of Time, published in 2015. When we pause, when we allow slowness, everything takes on a different meaning. We can see, hear and think in new ways. Lou Reed sings something similar in a line from one of the songs heard in Perfect Days: Linger on your pale blue eyes.