In a deeply moving performance that won the Best Actor award at Cannes 2023, Koji Yakusho (Babel, 13 Assassins) stars as Hirayama, a contemplative middle-aged man who lives a life of modesty and serenity, spending his days balancing his job as a dutiful caretaker of Tokyo’s numerous public toilets with his passion for music, literature and photography. As we join him on his structured daily routine, a series of unexpected encounters gradually begin to reveal a hidden past that lies behind his otherwise content and harmonious life.

Channeling Wenders’ affection for the work of Yasujiro Ozu, and combining a refreshingly unstereotypical depiction of the Japanese capital – particularly the experience of typically unappreciated service work – with a soundtrack of iconic hits from the 60s and 80s, this is a subtle, shimmering and ultimately life-affirming marvel that champions the meditative beauty of the everyday world around us.

This film contains flickering or flashing lights that may affect those with photosensitive epilepsy.