Sat 17 Jun 2006
Just came back from watching Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock’s The Lake House, which plotline opens with Sandra Bullock’s character Kate in 2006, touching base with Keanu Reeves’ character Alex in 2004 by putting letters, notes and other goodies for each other in the outside mailbox of a glass house on the lake, built by Alex’s dad. When I first saw the preview snippets, I thought there’s no way it’s a real fantasy movie; the time thing was probably just a metaphor or the way the previews spin a misunderstanding. Nope, the two actually find a time porthole. The plot is nearly the exact opposite of Christopher Reeves/Jane Seymour’s movie Somewhere in Time, another one of my favorites about a love that transcends beyond the boundaries of space/time continuums. The Lake House takes up some Back to the Future elements in the theory of the future affecting the past thereby altering the future. There was an internal plot so predictable from the beginning setup that as I watched the characters develop, it broke my heart. And then they did a twist that redeemed the story! Okay, this is already enough of a spoiler, so I’ll stop here. I’ll only tell of its effects on me, which is that I cried in this movie shamelessly, almost as hard as I did watching the last Keanu Reeves movie I saw, Sweet November. If I were watching The Lake House in the isolated midnight conditions of Sweet November, I would’ve undoubtedly been just as snot- and tear-wracked.
“That was one of my more favorite movies I’ve seen in a long time,” Mr. W just said. I’m definitely getting it when it comes out on DVD, so I can watch all the director’s cuts. “But it IS a chick flick,” he adds.
As the credits rolled, after I’d composed myself enough to be able to stand and walk out of the theatre, I said to Mr. W, “Don’t you go back in time 2 years to meet me.” He laughed and said it’d be a good thing cuz then he’d be younger. I said, remembering our brief brush with potential romance in 2003, “Actually, I wouldn’t have been interested in and did turn you down a few years ago.”
You might like the original Korean version of this movie called IL MARE (I think).I’ve heard it’s better than this one.You know I thought about what it would be like to go back in time to meet my husband. I don’t know if my younger self would have liked him but I’m sure he would have liked me.
I saw that in the credits, that it was based on a book called “Il Mare.” I didn’t know it was Korean; I thought it sounded Italian. But the restaurant she chose to meet him in (I think) was Il Mare. I should’ve known some trippy theme like this would be Asian. Our imaginations are pretty out there.
Thanks for the review… DV and I were going to see it on our way from Clearwater to Orlando this evening, but changed our minds to see it next time we meet up. I’ve been waiting for this movie to be released for MONTHS it seems like.
oh cool – i love keanu. i would see all his movies, even if they suck. although he has gotten slightly better over the years. but i was a bit uncertain to see him in roles such as this one.
maybe i will just watch the korean one instead.
What? No! You have to see this one, too! I could not stop thinking about this movie this weekend, certain scenes kept playing in my head. Like the scene where Sandra Bullock falls to her knees hanging onto the post of the mailbox, crying. The desperation and waning hope was so heart-wrenching!
spoiler – so don’t read this if you don’t want to know.
ok…so i saw this and thought it should have ended with him stepping out in front of the bus. that would have been a better ending. it was better than i had expected (better than sweet november or a walk in the clouds). if you remember final destination, when you change something in the past, something else has to happen to compensate, and it’s generally something bad.
You suck. WHY don’t you like things to turn out in a non-horror-movie way, WHYYYY???
You’re right — MUCH better than A Walk in the Clouds. That movie kinda sucked. I didn’t like looking at that heroine, either. His acting has gotten better, more relaxed.
his acting has gotten better. that much i can say.
it’s not that i wanted it to turn out in a non-horror way. all of the romantic movies he’s in are always so predictable. you knew right away that he was not going to cross the street and that they were going to hook up. it would have been a more interesting twist if he had gotten creamed by the bus. i guess it would have taken the “love transcends time” motif and changed it to “you can’t change the past so stop trying to live in it.” just a different twist.
by the way…when you grew your avocado, do you put it pointy side up or down in the water. i tried it and the avocado seed just got moldy. did you poke sticks in it to keep it part way above the water?
I didn’t think this ending was predictable, considering I expected him to get creamed since, well, he DID get creamed. But yeah, letting him stay creamed would’ve been an unusual end to a romantic drama, except that it’s also how Sweet November ended; he didn’t get the girl, she died, everyone’s crying their eyes out. Actually, that’s the same with Phenomenon, another one of my romantic drama faves. I cried and cried in that one, too. Geez, from this post, I seem like such a sap.
The avocado seed was so large that I was able to put it diagonally in the plastic cup and the sides of the cup propped the seed up, but it was diagonally pointy side down. I originally covered the seed in water (only the white part of the seed, the thin brown seed skin had already peeled away on its own, see my earlier photos) but someone told me it’d get moldy and recommended toothpicks. I bypassed the toothpicks and simply poured out the water so that only the bottom half of the seed was immersed in water. And then as the roots grew, I made sure only the roots were covered in water.
I’m totally starting an avocado trend! Some other people told me they were trying to grow their own tree from the seed, too! We’re gonna put these growers out of business. A buck an avocado…pthh.
“The Lake House” just came out on DVD, today. I adored the movie, as much as the movie “Frequency.” Enough said.
It’s about time we savor such great entertainment. Movies such as this one, are the reason why the old black and white movies reamain timeless today.
There are very few movies that compare to reading a good book; and this my dear, is one of them.
It’s out already??? Thanks for the tip, I am so getting it!