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5 Centimeters Per Second

Review Date: 2011 November 06 07:07

Reviewed by: Voxie

Released by: Manga Entertainment UK

Age Rating: U

Region: 2 - UK

Length: 63 minutes

Subtitles: English

Audio: English 5.1 Surround

Affilate Links:

Summary

Beginning with the lyrical image of cherry blossoms falling at five centimeters a second Makoto Shinkai paints a breathtakingly vivid tableau of young love, desire, loss and hope. Told in three breathtaking chapters we follow the young dreamer Takaki through his life as cruel winters cold technology silence and finally adult obligations and responsibility converge to crush the delicate petals of true love. Finding beauty in everyday objects and moments Shinkai reveals he is a master of animation and haunting beautiful storytelling. Fall in love with this gorgeous thoughtful film hailed by critics and audiences alike for its beauty truth and innovation in animation.

Review

5 Centimetres per Second is the third movie from Makoto Shinkai, of 'Voices of a Distant Star' fame. Shinkai continues with his familiar theme of love, time and space.

Takaki and Akari meet at elementary school and become very close friends. Upon graduating on to middle school, Akari has to move away and sadly the two are separated. But they keep in touch by letter.

It's originally set in the 90s, before mobile phones or email were really used, but it's a film split into three arcs, transitioning from childhood, to teens, then to adults living in our present day.

The three arcs follow mainly Takaki, but Akari is still very much host to the story. The childhood friends long to be together, but as ageing slowly tears them apart, it's a growing, understated sadness. She hangs around Takaki like a ghost. Or perhaps he's the ghost?

Although sometimes the story's pace is a bit too slow for my liking, there are moments so heartfelt, it might even make you squirm a little. Gradually I learnt why the pace is slow, and became touched by it. That hidden feeling we all endure but never talk about... That "nothingness"... The film has an overall ambiguity about it – Something that you know is there, but can't quite grasp. Something staring you in the face but can't touch. And I applaud Shinkai for capturing this.

This is supported, if not intensified by, the film's lovely art direction. Waiting at almost every turn, there is a gorgeous open sky to be found. Sunshine, sunset or moonlit, there is detail to every silver lining and with every star.

The soundtrack is also good, based around a 90s rock ballad which I'll touch on in a moment. It ranges from a gradual upbringing, up until the full version at the finale. The fusion of the song with scenes of past and present, will leave you thinking about the future. Perhaps even your own? I believe this is part of what Shinkai was aiming to do.

The DVD's special features are wholesome, with cast interviews, a Making Of Montage, a trailer, and well over an hour of minute taking with Mr. Shinkai himself. With each answer he gives full heart, going back to Voices of a Distant Star at one point, to Photoshop how-tos at another.

The Making Of Montage has a lovely piano version of the film's theme song playing over it. It's not featured in the film itself. While writing this, I found myself clicking back on it several times. The theme song is "One More Time, One More Chance", a rock ballad by Yamazaki Masayoshi, which happened to be released in 1997, around the time the film is originally set. Masayoshi's original video is also surrounded by that familiar starlit sky...

How far should we go? And how far can we go? These are universal questions that people will ask themselves at least once in their lifetime, no matter what your culture or background. Recommended.

Rating: 7/10

Links

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