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A Reel Life film section

Issue: Winter, 2006


The Lake House movie review

Letters Across Time

Dear new tenant, welcome to your new home. Sorry about the paw prints.

When doctor Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock) moves out of the extraordinary lake house she leaves behind a letter to the new tenant. Alex Wyler (Keanu Reeve) bought the lake house that he and his famous architect father (Christopher Plummer) built. He received Kate's letter. He starts to clean and clear up and while he is painting the entrance a stray dog appears, walks through the paint pan and leaves paw prints on the decking.

Kate returns to the lake house to find a letter in mail box waiting for her. The two begin a correspondence through this mail box.

Movie poster, The Lake House; Festivale film review

Movie poster, The Lake House
How do you hold on to someone you've never met?

Love across the miles, or love across the ages, love by correspondence, all these are common themes. In The Lake House we are asked only to accept one supernatural trick -- that a correspondence can be maintained across time through a rural mail box. After we accept that, the story is a simple one of two people who find each other and share their lives through correspondence without hope of meeting.

The music track is lovely, gentle and a little haunting. The leads have the challenge of playing against one another without being together on set.

Can friendship and love find another across time? Charming.

The time thing? It's just a detail.

Movie still, The Lake House; Festivale film review

Movie still, The Lake House; Festivale film review

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by Ali Kayn
Due for Australian release 13 July 2006
For credits and official site details, see below
Search Festivale for more work by the film-makers below.

See also: Reeves and Bullock also appeared together in Speed.

Just the facts:

Title: The Lake House(2006)
Written by: David Auburn (scr) Eun-Jeong Kim (motion picture "Siworae") & Ji-na Yeo (motion picture "Siworae")
Directed by: Alejandro Agresti
running time: 99 mins
rating: PG

The Players: Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Christopher Plummer,

Official website:
IMDb entry

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