Monday

You may not have known, or been interested to know, that The Lake House, a romance starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, is adapted from a Korean movie called Siworae, or Il Mare. Although this might seem like an irrelevant bit of trivia, I think it is vital to understanding the movie. The tone of this film is distinctly un-American. There are certain Hollywood romances which have a touch of magic, or superstition, to them, but nothing like this. Keanu Reeves moves into a lake house and finds a letter in the mailbox from the previous owner, Sandra Bullock. It soon becomes clear, however, that she is not a previous owner, but one two years in the future. They somehow then begin a correspondence, and fall in love. As you can tell, this is all a bit weird and illogical, and I think it fails as an American film, but I suspect it works as a Korean one. The storyline and themes fit more correctly with Korean cinema and I have a suspicion their conclusion to the film might have been different too. The American version skips over traumatic and serious issues, as well as the illogicality of the whole procedure. Of course, this movie isn't aimed at me, but then I think it also fails its target audience.