5 cm per Second

Looking back, I can't quite recall why we even started to talk about Hayao Miyazaki when I sat down with Émilie during our break on the Friday night of last week. Which is kind of weird, if you ask me. But discuss Miyazaki we did, and by the end of that 15-minute break I was sold to the idea of giving his animated films a shot. Armed with a small piece of paper bearing the titles Princess Mononoke (Canada, USA, Europe) and Spirited Away (Canada, USA, Europe), with a heart drawn on it to signify that these two were her favorites, I made my way to the video store to see if I could find them.

By Sunday night, I had seen Princess Mononoke, and found both Spirited Away and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Canada, USA, Europe). I expected to enjoy the films. After all, Émilie held them in such high esteem that I figured they couldn't possibly be bad. Yet I never envisioned that I would enjoy them to such a degree. I don't know if it's because I distanced myself from Japanese animated features for a number of years, but all of a sudden I wanted more and more! It was all I could do not to track down every single Miyazaki movie.

But my initial fear remained, and remains still, if only to a certain extent. This genre, not unlike SFF, is filled with retarded shit. And I'm scared that one of these days I'll stumble upon a smelly turd I'll find so off-putting that it might just kill my renewed interest in the genre. But so far so good.

Wanting to take a little break from Hayao Miyazaki, lest I go through his entire body of work before the week is out, I elected to give you guys' suggestions a shot. I didn't really know what to go for, but I remembered that 5 cm per Second came with the highest possible recommendation.

Had anyone told me that evening sitting there with Émilie that in the span of about a week I would watch no less then four Japanese animated features and love each and everyone of them, I would have said you're crazy. But I did, and loved every minute of it! And based on the number of emails I've received recently, I know that many of you have rented some of them and enjoyed them as well. Hence, it mission accomplished as far as the Hotlist's main objective is concerned. Spreading the word about all that's good in SFF continues to be what I aim at.

Although quite different in style and tone, Makoto Shinkai's 5 cm per Second is as good as the three Miyazaki films I've seen thus far. Even better in some ways, as it's for a more mature audience. This film is comprised of three segments which follow the evolution of love and what it means to the characters at various points of their lives -- childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

I never would have thought that an animated feature would touch me in such a fashion. 5 cm per Second is a beautiful film. Visually stunning, yes, but it's the content which ultimately moves you. Takaki is the central character, meaning that he appears in all three arcs. But he's not necessarily the POV character in each one, and this diversity adds many layers to this work.

In the first part, "Cherry Blossom," Takaki befriends a shy girl named Akari when she's transferred to his elementary school. Upon graduation, Akari is forced to move again, and both she and Takaki keep in touch by writing letters. When he learns that his family will be moving far away, he decides to visit Akari one last time. In "Cosmonaut," we find an older Takaki nearing the end of high school and thinking about his future. Kanae Sumida has fallen in love with him since the first day she met him, but she could never bring herself to confess how she truly feels. And in "5 cm per Second," Takaki is now a computer programmer in Tokyo. Realizing that his life is not what he has always hoped it would be, on the verge of a breakdown Takaki quits his job. Akari is about to get married, when she finds that old love letter she never did give to Takaki.

According to Makoto Shinkai, the title 5 cm Per Second comes from the speed at which cherry blossoms petals fall, petals being a metaphorical representation of humans, reminiscent of the slowness of life and how people often start together but slowly drift into their separate ways.

I absolutely loved the way Shinkai explored the theme of love through various periods of a number of people's lifetimes. And the beauty of the movie is that you can't help but see yourself in basically every since part of the film. I guess that's why I was so moved by this work. It's all there. How powerful and exhilarating love can be, and by the same token how painful and bittersweet is can turn out to be. The immensity of a first love before the loss of innocence. How being too driven can blind you that what lies right in front of you. How shattered dreams and disillusionment can break you.

Tenmon's evocative soundtrack is just about perfect, and conveys layers of emotions. His end song theme almost made me choke up. There is no instrument out there that can capture moods and emotions quite like a piano, and Tenmon's track is simply brilliant.

You can find 5 cm per Second on various streaming sites or on YouTube. All in all, this is probably as good as it gets. And thank God they had the brains not to cap it all off with a cheesy, bubblegum Hollywood ending. Touching and moving, you have got to see this film.

I'm too lazy to backtrack and check who actually recommended 5 cm per Second to me, but I'll be eternally grateful! It's a movie anyone can enjoy, whether you're into anime or not. . .

Here's the trailer:



And here's that end song theme I've been listening to non-stop since yesterday:



For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe