09/28/06 The Lake House

The Lake House (2006), directed by Alejandro Agresti

watched w/ Leslie; DVD rental (Netflix) @ home

Stay with me on this one...and don't make fun of me for being soft. I rented this one with the intention of making Leslie happy, seeing as it was a tear-jerker of a sappy (yet fantastical) love story. However, I was impressed by the romanticism that was the re-teaming of "Speed" co-stars Sandra Bullock and Keanu "I'm Neo" Reeves. Granted, I think the whole idea of a magical mailbox ranks right up there with the acting efforts of Mr. Reeves in most of his movies, but alas, I was willing to give it a try. What I came to find out is that this film is yet another remake of a foreign film that you've never heard of, but is probably even better than the Americanized one. Its predecessor was the Korean film "Siworae" made in 2000 where the setting was a city apartment building, as opposed to the re-telling with the titular lake house. Once you get past both the facts that I was watching a "romantic" movie and that it was about a magical time-altering mailbox...it wasn't half bad. A lonely and lovelorn doctor Kate (Bullock) tries to get away from the hustle & bustle and constant reminders of a harsh city by moving into a remote lake house. Once she moves in, she begins to experience an odd delivery in her mailbox...letters coming from the mysterious previous owner of the house, one frustrated architect Alex (Reeves). The two lonely souls begin a time-travelling correspondence, which begins with disbelief and intrigue, to blossom ultimately into a torrid love affair that may never come into existence. Somehow their lives are happening simultaneously two years apart from each other, but their paths seemingly cross over many times before they can be brought back together. Proving that love can defy all odds (and freakin' laws of physics), the two somehow maintain their affair through sentimental gestures big (at one point Alex plants a tree outside a construction site that is to one day become the current apartments that Kate lives in...while she's standing on the sidewalk, a tree miraculously appears full-grown beside her) and small (Alex goes back to a train depot to retrieve a book that Kate lost their two years prior). All of their friends and family think they are insane, but still support them in the notion of finding that elusive true love. What makes matters even more deep, the lake house in question was designed by Alex's famous architect father (Christopher Plummer) for his mother...which created so much lovelorn affliction for his family, and manifests itself into his relationship with Kate. Confusing yes...completely unbelievable true...but visually captivating and intriguing. Doesn't everybody wish they had a magical mailbox? One that perhaps didn't contain bills and junkmail every month?!

3 out of 5 stars