The part that makes this movie most beautiful is how it takes all of the trappings of a romantic love story and juxtaposes it with a more somber, realistic narrative. Cherry blossoms fall, lovers meet in the snow, a boy and a girl go for a bike ride by the ocean—it's the perfect setting for love. But what if those feelings you have never reach the person you love? What if you get worn down by the boredom of everyday life, or what if you forget, or never make a move? Even though love is supposed to surpass all boundaries, what if it's the world's most mundane problems which defeat love in the end?
Yes, I think "5 Centimeters Per Second" is basically perfect. I don't have anything bad to say about it.
Now, if you get to the ending and think, "That's it?" Just think for a moment. Think about what was missing from the movie. This is a movie defined by its negative space. The "missing" parts of the movie are the expectations you bring in from having seen other romantic movies. With a minimalist approach to plotting and characters, Shinkai uses this "negative space" to accomplish more in 63 minutes than most stories could accomplish in two full hours.
The movie stands up very well to repeated viewings, and is well worth watching just for the fact that it doesn't take the easy way out. Although the characters are young and the story is innocent, this is a very adult movie, in the sense that it speaks about adult experiences. I suspect the movie is not as engaging for younger viewers (by "younger" I mean early twenties).
