There is a school of thought that suggests animation cannot capture the same depth of emotion as live action film and it is inherently a more immature medium. Obviously, I don't believe that myself and there are plenty of stories told outside of "live action"1 that can spread throughout the whole spectrum of maturity.
Having seen the trailer before the film itself, I was grabbed by the art style more than anything else. It looks particularly lush and the use of light is genuinely evocative. You can see the interplay between light and shade in the trailer below but I am a big fan. Some might not enjoy the quick cuts (in places) and fairly abstract meanings of empty rooms and such, but I think it works very well as a whole to create the atmosphere.
"5 Centimeters Per Second" is by Makoto Shinkai2 and is a short film (I always thought that feature films had to be more than 90 minutes long) made up of three episodes in a young man's3 life - from elementary school to young adult. Starting with a segment from early school days, I think it captures that feeling of great importance of those early days. The first episode actually shows a touching journey4 to meet a girl across a few different regions and train lines through the snow and wind. That feeling of longing, and feeling powerless is really well transmitted as he travels and even with the resolution as it is. The second episode, after their separation shows the couple coping in their own ways (as school kids) and the third, the same again (as slightly older adults), with subtle reminiscing of the past. The title comes from a little conversation about the apparent speed of falling snowflakes (i.e. 5cm/s) and is a repeated motif throughout with slight amendment.
The theme cutting through the episodes is definitely a strong feeling of (dangerous) nostalgia with the protagonist not really able to let that memory - a memory that has surely changed as it aged - become just a memory.
To be honest, there is not really a lot to say about it as it is a short, almost textural, film that I really enjoyed - more so the second time when I did not expect such a strong narrative.
Trailer here. I'd watch it if you get the chance.
1. A train of thought that is ingrained but illogical with a bit of thought. This would be worthy of more than a footnote, but not here - there is actually a very funny, and a little messed up, destruction of this thought in Genshiken which is about "2d girls".↩
2. I actually first saw this at the BFI with a director's talk which was very interesting as he basically worked on his own. A friend of mine also taught him English when he lived in London for a bit.↩
3. I thought it was from his POV, but that is from my point of view...↩
4. The journey is from Tokyo to Tochigi so some of it is through Saitama which I knew fairly well.↩
Having seen the trailer before the film itself, I was grabbed by the art style more than anything else. It looks particularly lush and the use of light is genuinely evocative. You can see the interplay between light and shade in the trailer below but I am a big fan. Some might not enjoy the quick cuts (in places) and fairly abstract meanings of empty rooms and such, but I think it works very well as a whole to create the atmosphere.
"5 Centimeters Per Second" is by Makoto Shinkai2 and is a short film (I always thought that feature films had to be more than 90 minutes long) made up of three episodes in a young man's3 life - from elementary school to young adult. Starting with a segment from early school days, I think it captures that feeling of great importance of those early days. The first episode actually shows a touching journey4 to meet a girl across a few different regions and train lines through the snow and wind. That feeling of longing, and feeling powerless is really well transmitted as he travels and even with the resolution as it is. The second episode, after their separation shows the couple coping in their own ways (as school kids) and the third, the same again (as slightly older adults), with subtle reminiscing of the past. The title comes from a little conversation about the apparent speed of falling snowflakes (i.e. 5cm/s) and is a repeated motif throughout with slight amendment.
The theme cutting through the episodes is definitely a strong feeling of (dangerous) nostalgia with the protagonist not really able to let that memory - a memory that has surely changed as it aged - become just a memory.
To be honest, there is not really a lot to say about it as it is a short, almost textural, film that I really enjoyed - more so the second time when I did not expect such a strong narrative.
Trailer here. I'd watch it if you get the chance.
1. A train of thought that is ingrained but illogical with a bit of thought. This would be worthy of more than a footnote, but not here - there is actually a very funny, and a little messed up, destruction of this thought in Genshiken which is about "2d girls".↩
2. I actually first saw this at the BFI with a director's talk which was very interesting as he basically worked on his own. A friend of mine also taught him English when he lived in London for a bit.↩
3. I thought it was from his POV, but that is from my point of view...↩
4. The journey is from Tokyo to Tochigi so some of it is through Saitama which I knew fairly well.↩
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