Three stories about love, separation, and growing up. An iconic anime by one of the masters of the genre.
Best Animated Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2007.
Five centimeters per second is the speed at which petals fall from the sakura tree. A teenage couple are admiring the tree. Time is elusive. The flowering of the sakura cannot be stopped, and nor can we freeze the most beautiful moments of our life. However, winter is always followed by spring, and feelings blossom anew, not only in the memory but in new incarnations.
Makoto Shinkai is called the second Miyazaki, not because he is an imitator but for a similar originality of narration and visuality. Shinkai’s animes are spellbindingly beautiful; each scene is like a painting. This is largely because of his focus on light, highlights, and various documentary details of the image. His melancholy picturesque style is limited by the sentimental stories that he likes to tell; a constant exploration of love, loneliness, and growing up. 5 Centimeters per Second is no exception, and it is his best-known work. However, unlike Shinkai’s other films, here there is no hint of a happy ending. This anime is unique due to the elusive sense that unrequited love sharpens the sense of beauty more keenly than a love affair.
The film will be shown in Japanese with Russian subtitles.
5 Centimeters per Second
Director Makoto Shinkai
Japan, 2007, 63 min. 12+