The Lake House

Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves star in this enchanting romance across time, but not too much time.

The plot: We begin as Kate Forster (Bullock) is just moving out of the lake house, an interesting glass house built on the shore of a lake north of Chicago. The film then cuts to Alex Wyler (Reeves), who is moving in. On checking the mailbox he finds a welcome note from Kate with the usual request to forward mail to her new address. She also apologises for the paw prints on the decking and floor. What paw prints, Alex wonders, just before a dog runs past him right in the middle of staining the decking leading up the house - thus are set the paw prints. How did she know?

Alex writes to Kate asking her this and through a bit of to and fro, and seeing the mailbox magically raise and lower its flag by itself, they figure out what is going on. You see, Kate lived in the lake house after Alex, not before. They are corresponding across time - between 2004 and 2006. Needless to say, they fall in love; yet how do they get together? Kate needs to figure out how to find Alex in 2006, and Alex needs to be patient because although he finds Kate in 2004, she has no idea who he is - and he's smart enough not to try and explain the 'letters across time' story. We can be forgiven for accepting this sort of time-travel experience as normal, but we're the audience - they're the characters.

Without spoiling the rest of the film, suffice it to say that there is love, tragedy and hope.

In summary: I like The Lake House, finding it a well-balanced and caring film, without the extreme tugging at the heart that can be found in films like The Notebook (which I also liked, but found difficult to take in the middle). This is helped by both Reeves and Bullock being both experienced actors and not over-exposed to the romance genre. I think that Reeves's relatively low level of facial expression, coupled Bullock (who always appears reserved and sultry to me) actually works well to control the potential for overwrought emotion that can undo a film romance.

The Lake House, however, is not without the odd fault, most importantly just how the time effect manifests itself. It seems that some actions by Alex are known and have effect in Kate's memory, while others do not. A couple of examples: He kisses her at her birthday party before she knows him (but he, of course knows her) - she remembers this later; yet, when she tells him how much she misses seeing trees like those when she lived at the lake house, he goes to her apartment building (under construction in his time) and plants a young tree out front - magically it appears right in front of her, not having been there before. The rules don't seem to make sense. I'll play along however, because I'd rather live in the world the film creates.

The Lake House is a anglo-make of the Korean film Siworae.

The Casablanca comparison: Alex and Kate are very much like Rick and Ilsa, both couples separated by time and needing immense patience in order to bridge the gap. In Casablanca, it is Ilsa that is trapped by time, without the power to control how events unfold, particularly in her heart. In the end, Rick must manage the time effect that their separation caused and look to the future for a possible solution. I like to think that he came and took her away with him after the war was over, it's the romantic in me.

The rating: 8 out of 10. The Lake House is definitely one of the best romances I have seen in many, many years. Moreover, its characters are portrayed in such a way as to make the film less over-wrought and thus less annoying and more warming than of a film like The Notebook. Highly recommended.