Il Mare (2000) May 9, 2009
Posted by Cal in : Drama, Fantasy, Romance, 2000s films , trackbackDirector: Lee Hyun-seung Main cast: Lee Jung-Jae; Jun Ji-hyun Territory: South Korea
Architect Sung-hyun (Lee Jung-Jae) moves into a house on the beachfront and is surprised to receive post from the previous tenant, especially when he’s told that he’s the first person to live there. It turns out that the mailbox at the bottom of the house’s path is a time-travel device and that he can exchange post with the house’s future tenant Eun-joo (Jun Ji-hyun), a pretty voice actor living two years in the future. The two begin a romance by post, daydreaming about each other and hoping to meet when they can sort out the time difference problem.
I’m quite aware that there have been a lot of romantic films on Heroes of the East of late (something that will probably continue a little while longer at least) and I’ve no idea why. Maybe I’m sickening for something. Anyhow, Il Mare (which means The Sea, incidentally) is a light bit of fluff that nevertheless has a tendency to do your head in when you try to follow the film’s needfully convoluted logic. It’s true of a lot of time travel movies, or movies that have a non-linear narrative – you can often find yourself concentrating so hard on “when” things are taking place that you miss important details.
The would-be loving couple are your usual pretty young twenty-somethings, but are likeable enough. It sounds to me that their romance (which generally consists of giving each other playful activities to do) is pretty much ideal. They never meet, hence never quarrel, get bored or find themselves woefully incompatible with each other, which tends to happen when people actually have to see each other face to face on a regular basis.
The film’s structure is familiar in that there’s a last minute hurdle for the couple to overcome so that they can spend eternity in each other’s arms, although admittedly this one’s a doozy. Telling you what it is would give the whole game away, but suffice to say the pair want to ruin their idyllic relationship by actually seeing each other in the flesh, and that turns out to be more difficult than they’d bargained for.
The light and fluffy tone of the film is enhanced considerably by a gorgeous jazzy soundtrack and great use of scenery and lighting. Overall, the film is pleasant, entertaining and occasionally mildly touching, but I suspect it won’t leave you itching to watch it again and again. I was surprised to discover this was later remade in the US as The Lake House with none other than Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in the lead roles, which seemed unlikely to me given the relatively placid nature of the film.
One thing that really did spoil the film for me was the Hong Kong “Edko” DVD. The subtitles are great and are pretty much spot on, but unfortunately cut off the end of the screen if placed only on one line in a lengthy sentence. This means some lines of dialogue can end up unseen, and this can happen in pivotal moments of the film. I am unaware of the alternatives, but if you want to see this enjoyable time-passer, I would suggest looking elsewhere.
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