5 Centimeters Per Second (2007)

IMDb plot summary: Told in three interconnected segments, we follow a young man named Takaki through his life as cruel winters, cold technology, and finally, adult obligations and responsibility converge to test the delicate petals of love.

Directed by Makoto Shinkai. Starring Kenji Mizuhashi, Yoshimi Kondou, Satomi Hanamura, and Ayaka Onoue.

This film is divided into three segments about how a short-lived relationship sticks with a boy/young man at different points in his life. It clocks in at a brief 60 minutes, and that's about the perfect length for this - much longer and there'd be a higher risk of the film losing its carefully crafted emotional tone. Director Makoto Shinkai has a way of bringing out "the big picture" in his work, making his themes feel enormous, universal, while still focusing on a singular narrative. Here there's a sprawling sense of longing, searching, and it's powerful. The score here definitely helps too - it's absolutely stunning. It grounds the film and gives it an immediate weight, a sense that this story is bigger than you think it is. It's one of those films that feels almost more like a painting than cinema, beautiful and still and the longer you stare at it, the more you start pondering those big universal questions.

How it entered my Flickchart:

5 Centimeters Per Second > Les Miserables (1935)

5 Centimeters Per Second > Brave

5 Centimeters Per Second < Revengers Tragedy

5 Centimeters Per Second > Super 8

5 Centimeters Per Second < The Sessions

5 Centimeters Per Second < Notting Hill

5 Centimeters Per Second > The Shawshank Redemption

5 Centimeters Per Second < Face/Off

5 Centimeters Per Second > What About Bob?

5 Centimeters Per Second > Star Trek

5 Centimeters Per Second < Down With Love

Final spot: #566 out of 3211, or 82%.