I am a Korean Wave follower, and one of the Korean movies that I really like is Il Mare. When I learned that the movie The Lake House was a remake of the Korean flick, I was a bit skeptical. For one, I'm not a fan of remakes, particularly the Asian to Hollywood type. Second, bizarre plots are Korean movies trademark, so I seriously doubted whether Hollywood could pull this off. Finally, Hollywood has a tendency of butchering artistically-made Asian films.
Anyway, the movie. The story begins with Dr. Kate Forster leaving a note for the new tenant of the picturesque house on the lake she just moved out from with a request to please forward her mail to her new address in Chicago.
Enter the new tenant, Alex Wyler, who comes across the letter and is somewhat baffled by its contents. Kate's letter mentioned paw prints by the front door, which aren't existing. The letter also mentioned a box in the attic, but the box simply isn't there. Besides, as far as Alex knows, before him, no one has lived in the lake house for years.
So Alex dismisses the letter, until that fateful day when a dog wanders in the lake house, steps on some paint, and leaves prints by the front door. Alex is reminded of the letter and in his curiosity to solve the mystery of the paw prints, decides to personally deliver his letter to Kate in the address stated in her first missive. The thing is, the building Kate is supposedly living in doesn't exist yet. The area has one of those 'On this site shall rise..' signs.
Alex comes to the conclusion that the lady might just be pulling his leg, stating an address that doesn't exist and a date that's all wrong. She dated her letter 2006, when it's the year 2004.
Kate decided to play the 'date' game with him: If he insists that it's 2004, then he better watch out for the spring snow. He scoffs at this, naturally. But then, it snows.
'Can this be happening?' he asks.
The continued correspondence between the two blossoms into a wonderful love affair which would have been perfect if not for a teeny, weeny detail: They live two years apart.
I love this movie, I don't quite know where to begin.
Everything about this movie was so calm - the directing, the actors' portrayals of their characters, the musical score - that I felt soothed despite the confusing premise. My skepticism had nothing to do at all with the perplexing premise. I initially knew that the movie was a remake of Il Mare so I expected the odd plot. Hence, I set aside all logical thoughts and suspended my disbelief; otherwise, I'd go crazy analyzing this movie and I haven't even started on the dog. This movie begs you to simply appreciate it for what it is: A love story with a powerful message that true love comes to those who wait.
My skepticism bordered more on whether Hollywood can pull off a bizarre plot characteristic of Korean movies. I was awed. I am now a remake convert, if just because of this movie. The director, Alejandro Agresti, made this movie his canvass, bringing in really amazing sites of Chicago, blending them with the actors' superb performances, and finishing it off with smooth transitions from the past to the present to the past. Needless to say, this movie was a work of art.
The movie hardly had scenes of Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves together, and this is supposed to be their characters' love story. Still, it worked for me because the actors have an inexplicable connection with each other, apart or together. Take Speed, for instance. In that movie, neither had the chance to at least gaze into each others eyes to establish the romance, but you feel the attraction is there. And if the actors' natural closeness isn't a plausible explanation to the effective love story, just look at the way they portrayed their roles. There was top-notch acting going on in this movie, even for Reeves who's usually stiff. Reeves felt wonderfully relaxed here that he had some quite powerful scenes - the train, Kate's birthday, the time when he browsed his father's memoirs. Both actors shone in this movie and I can't think of anybody else who'd portray their roles as perfectly as they did.
End result: The Lake House won both me and my quill. Why, it can't seem to stop writing praises about it! It was so masterfully directed, it is now my most favorite movie in the romance genre, so far.
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