A melancholy romance that feels more like a
drama, this pretty-good remake of a Korean hit reunites Speed costars Sandra Bullock and Keanu
Reeves as would-be lovers linked by a mailbox but separated by two years.
A mailbox provides a bridge between an architect (Keanu
Reeves) and a doctor (Sandra Bullock) living two years apart. The mushy-yet-effective
Somewhere in Time would be the obvious antecedent, but in fact it’s a
newer version of a well-regarded South Korean hit (English title: Il Mare)
that was never released here. Keanu’s previous romancer was the goopy
misfire Sweet November, doomed by a premise far sillier than the one
here. But the producers did get screenwriter David Auburn, of 2005’s underappreciated Proof,
to transplant the remake to Chicago, so there was some hope. (The director is
the Argentine Alejandro Agresti, who made a charmer called ValentÃn a
few years ago.) If Lake House is a romance, it’s well apart from the
Nicholas Sparks school of schmaltz (seen in such films as Message in a
Bottle and The Notebook), or even something more subdued like The
Bridges of Madison County.
It’s not so much about how these two characters
relate to each other, but how their epistolary link brings other aspects of
their lives into relief. Auburn’s script incorporates family and work issues
and uses the time gap to illustrate loss and change. Clever editing shows the
literary exchange as if it were real conversation. Understated isn’t
really either star’s forte, but each gives a relatively restrained performance
that suits the melancholy feel of the film. Some people will find this movie
slow, I think, and, as I’ve suggested, it really works better as a drama than
as passionate romance. It isn’t precisely a time-travel movie, yet presents
some of the same logical difficulties. Via the information she passes to the
world of two years ago, Bullock’s character can essentially alter the past and
thus her current reality. And she does. The movie deals with these
contradictions wisely, by ignoring them. Since this isn’t a sci-fi movie, I
could too.
posted 8/14/13
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