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5 Centimeters Per Second 
Actors : Kenji Mizuhashi, Satori Hanamura, Yoshimi Kondou, Ayaka Onoue
Director : Makoto Shinkai
Studio : ADV Films
by ADV Films
Brand : ADV Films
Release Date : 2008-03-04
Publisher : ADV Films
Availability : This Item is currently Not Available
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 0702727173424
UPC : 702727173424
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 26 reviews)
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Product Description |
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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.System Requirements:Running Time: 65 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ANIMATION/ANIME Rating: PG UPC: 702727173424 Manufacturer No: DFCS/001 |
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Disappointed... |
I thought I'd like this movie since I saw an advertisement for it in a magazine and it looked good. I usually try to watch more Japanese shows so I can improve my language skills.
5 Centimeters Per Second started out pretty good. In fact, the first 30 minutes of it was enjoyable.
Then in the middle it got a little confusing before turning sad.
At the end I was completely lost. I really don't understand why it had to be that way. I'm not even sure what happened. It was rushed and it made no sense. By the time I had watched it I felt empty like I had wasted my time.
The music was annoying as well.
-Ki
P.S. Go watch something of Studio Ghibli's instead if you haven't already. |
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A Reply to Mr. Jonathan Lane's Review |
*While I normally don't post a review by replying to another one I thought it would be most productive to respond to Jonathan's negative criticisms of this film since most of my praise for it acts as a counterpoint to his critiques.*
Wanting Shinkai to be "the next Miyazaki" is placing unnecessary preconceptions and restraints on a director who is a unique artist and not like Miyazaki at all. Miyazaki has succeeded because he's made Eastern fairy tales and fantasy palatable to a Western audience to which these things are often foreign. His style lies more in the narrative than in the aesthetics (though he doesn't exactly skimp in that area). Shinkai in terms of style, form, content, aesthetic, focus, etc. is nothing like Miyazaki.
As for the so-called "pacing problem" I agreed wholly that Promised was badly paced. But Shinkai's problem is that he couldn't decide what to focus on and how to weave the narrative together. There are two solutions to this; you either maintain a tight control over the flow of the narrative and the characters within it, or you sacrifice narrative pacing for aesthetic pacing. That's what he's chosen to do with 5cm. So the claim that 5cm has bad pacing is completely incorrect. Shinkai is not going for narrative pacing here, but aesthetic pacing. This is a classic technique of Asian art. You can see it in classic Asian film such as Ozu, Mizoguchi, Hsiao-hsien, and Ming-liang. Shinkai achieves this through his minimal focus on narrative, ellipses, pillow shots, musical montages, etc.
As for the music, I also disagree and think this film is another leap forward for Shinkai. There are several views when it comes to the best application of music for film, but one I like is Kurosawa's view that music and film go best together when both pieces are missing something; when a piece of music is missing something or a scene is missing something. That way putting music and film together 'completes' the other. I agree in Shinkai's previous films the music was more individual, more distinguished. But I think his application of more 'passive' music in 5cm is much better. And I rather liked how the ending theme compliments the film that came before. It might not be as superficially pretty as other music Shinkai has used (I think it's quite beautiful, but tastes will differ), but I think it fits much better in the context of the film.
The complaint that this is just a gooey romance rehashed from Promised isn't really fair from someone who's not attempting to conjure up an original and "surprising" narrative. If anything, the film is attempting to get to the emotions associated with the story more than presenting the story itself. Or, put another way, the minimal narrative opens a window into a river of complex emotions associated with such a simplistic and common idea as a youthful romance. Yes, this film is just a variation on his last two, but to criticize Shinkai for that is unfair. Yasujiro Ozu, one of the greatest directors ever, often repeated simplistic storylines using the same actors with even the same character names but just in slightly different circumstances. He did this so as to illuminate a different emotion, aesthetic, or theme each time. And by slightly shifting the content around, his oeuvre forms a kind of Cubist art where you get to see the same thing from different angles.
Shinkai is doing the same thing by using the same basic idea and slightly manipulating it with each effort to get something different out of it. You can't really do this switching to a completely different story, because then the pattern is broken. You can not like this approach and claim that it's just the same thing over and over, but to do so is to miss the point badly. Shinkai has finally honed his style enough that he seems to be aware of this. When he began, I thought he would end up going the more Miyazaki route of making sci-fi, fantasy, romances that fit more into a Western mold. But I'm rather glad that he's gone the opposite route and taken his films in a direction that's much closer to classic Eastern art. Because afterall, we have a Miyazaki, why do we need another one? Especially when there aren't enough artists like Shinkai in anime.
But even more than his Asian predecessors, Shinkai's films have come to resemble those of the reclusive, enigmatic, American director/poet Terrence Malick. After watching 5cm I was actually reminded vividly of Malick's Days of Heaven, which also features a minimalistic narrative that's used as simply a means for momentum on which the breathtaking visual aesthetics take over. This results in film that's the visual equivalent of poetry, and 5cm does indeed play more like a visual tone poem than a narrative driven film.
With 5cm I humbly think that Shinkai has crafted his most complete film to date. A stunningly gorgeous film filled with a rich melancholic tone. The kind of film to watch on a rainy day in a relaxed mood. It's a quiet and graceful film, a humble chamber piece set to a minor key; the anime equivalent of a Schubert Lieder. The 4 star rating is only because as much as I like 5cm, I still think Shinkai is capable of even better.
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Get it while it's in print. |
ADV films put this amazing title out of print, so get it while it lasts.
The film itself, was spectacular, with probably the best non-cg artwork I've seen in pretty much any movie. I also cried at the end... there's something about that beautiful ending song "One more time, one more chance".
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Very Captivating!!! |
This is one of the best Animes I have seen. It's so human you can feel for the characters. I love it that there's no robots, fantasy, outer space...just a boy and girl. Very touching as well. Disregard all the comparisons to Miyazaki, Mr. Shinkai can hold his own. HIGHLY recommended, you will not be disappointed.
Too bad it didn't include some of the goodies (entire movie in story board and the soundtrack) found on the Japanese Limited edition. If you ever run across it I think it's worth it (considering you can play Region 2 DVDs).
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Artwork is beautful |
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The story I appreciate and understand but dosen't really hold my interest. I'm probably too old (I'm 58). But the drawings in the animation are incredible. It's like each frame could hang on your wall as an artwork. The lighting and shadows, the night scenes, the snow falling are just unbelievable. That is enough for me to really like this anime. It is a very quiet slow moving story with very subdude music. The music is what I would describe as haunting. One of the most beautifully done animes I've seen. It's worth a buy. I'm sure I'll watch it many more times. |
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