Afte the kerfuffle between me and Jiggs over the Hollywood re-make of this 2000 Korean movie, Pooky decided to purchase the original on the intention that we'd watch it together and perhaps it would make more sense.
The plot is basically the same - two people living in the same house (named Il Mare) but separated by two years begin corresponding through a mystical mailbox. The same time-travelling dog owned by both of them are there, he's still a builder/architect type, the twist etc etc. But some things are different - notably she's a voice actor (not a doctor) and, of course, the ending. So how do the two movies compare?
Well. Originally I was not going to review this movie because I fell asleep during it. That's a review in itself, quite frankly. Pooey is probably gonna think what I'm about to write is sacrilege, but I really did find the english remake better, and not just because Keanu is way better looking than the male Korean lead. This movie was sloooooooooooooooooooooooow. And unless the key event happened while I was sleeping (Miss Pooky assures me it didn't), the *flashback* reason why they were unable to meet up felt to me like a bit of a last minute add in to make the entire thing more tragic. The idea that the two fall in love over their correspondence also felt better done in the Keanu version because their letters seemed more interactive.
So anyway, I found this movie fairly ordinary. Sleep-inducingly ordinary. Or that might have been Miss Pooky's couch. *shrug*
4-5/10
5 comments:
mooey, i never watched il mare... cos it was boring. and i very much liked the lake house
i meant more that you'd be spitting that I said remake better than original
We watched The Lake House recently and Khiem fell asleep, it was ok but would've been better if it wasn't a happy ending. I love tragic endings, but it did make me cry! Keanu was pretty cute in it too.
"Il Mare" is way better than the "The Lake House."
Slowly paced! -- to the point that you fell asleep -- that is what you pointed out as one of the flaws of the movie "Il Mare." But what you pointed out as its weakness is actually its strength. Il Mare is slowly but cleverly paced. The movie is paced in a slow and natural way that allow the audiences to piece together clues and events without spoonfeeding. It cleverly stimulates the viewers' reasoning and emotion. There is less dialogue to allow the beautiful and melancholic scenery do the talking, as the cliche goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.
"Il Mare," compared to its Hollywood counterpart -- where every minor subplot is made into a major one, and having to explain and spoon-feed everything to the audience -- is simpler but by no means less effective. Il Mare, with its simple and less complicated story, centers the thunder and limelight on the two lovely protagonist and not giving anything substantial to its supporting cast. This make the audiences to be totally immersed in the story and develop a genuine concern for the characters they are watching.
I've seen the remake first, and the original second. But If I were to decide which version is better, I would say, without hesitation, the original trumps over the remake. For me, Il Mare is way better than the The Lake House.
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