Cureless

One of the many movies I’ve recently seen (but failed to mention here) was “5 Centimeters Per Second“. It’s an animation film (animé) which premiered in Japan a year ago. Like many other movies I’ve seen together with Fluffy, this one also brought us the anticipation factor. But unlike the previous ones we’ve watched, I haven’t read a single article about the movie, so I was totally clueless about its theme. Besides, the title gives no more than a vague hint.

It’s a drama. I learned shortly after watching the few scenes. A middle-school boy hurriedly takes the train with a purpose. His memories from his past flashed back, revealing the purpose of his travel - his wait, frustrations and anticipation. Watching how time flew so realistically on screen made me feel that certain rush stirred by the boy’s eagerness to achieve what he desires to do with the ticking clock on his mind. At the same time, it also quelled that feeling every time something causes delay, a reason for the boy to fail.

I miss or rather I wish to see, hear, or witness more stories like these which evoke a certain kind of emotion in me that other media aren’t capable of. Heavily immersed in the Filipino pop culture, how could I forget the first time I saw Cinema Paradiso, or The Bicycle Thief? Although I’d categorize “5 Centimeters Per Second” as a love story (with and without the “romantic” notion), I’d easily rank it with these classics I’ve encountered. (And that by the way includes “Neon Genesis Evangelion”, only categorized differently but in parallel.)

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In relation to the animé, I believe that most of us has a similar story. I suddenly got the drive to reminisce about the movie when I remembered some frequently recurring small talks I have with Fluffy about our past lives. He tells me about his perennial crushes in school from kindergarten to college (minus high school, go figure), making me wonder about same situation I also had in the past. What happened to them? How did I felt back then? Were the memories even worth remembering at all?

In the end, I think the movie still leaves a lot of room for speculation. Cut into 3 stories from the 3 different episodes in the boy’s life, it ended when he, who’s now a man looked back and the one he was expecting to see wasn’t there. I see that it may have further ended with the man still going with his routine of solitary exclusion from the world outside. But something definitely more powerful is telling me that it’s about letting go and moving forward.