Flippin' Nora I have sooooo many reviews to read!!! Kate x
Flippin' Nora I have sooooo many reviews to read!!! Kate x
Member since:17.07.2006
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The Lake House (2006)
Drama/Fantasy/Romance
Sandra Bullock Keanu Reeves
The Lake House is a film about connection. About two people whose love spans time. Not in the normal way though - these two people are separated by two years. When they first discover each other, one is in 2006 and the other is in 2004. A curious premise for a film to work with, but somehow the director pulls it off very successfully.
It is definitely a chick flick, but it will have you guessing about how it will end. At the beginning of the film, you feel certain as you watch that everything is going to be fine, that of course there will be a happy ending. As the film goes on, and you are pulled deeper into the story, you begin to wonder how could this possibly work? How can it possibly end well?
I think that is the mark of great scriptwriting, to have us hanging on the edge of our seats, wondering, and the performances and on screen chemistry of Bullock and Reeves, as they ingrain the characters onto our conscience, encourage us to really care about what is going to happen to them next.
Sandra Bullock plays Dr Kate Forster, a Chicago based Doctor, and Keanu Reeves plays Alex Wyler, an architect. They both have busy, demanding lives, and great ideals of how they want things to be. The Lake House represents to each of them a place of peace and tranquillity, where they rediscover themselves, and truly allow themselves to be the people they really are for a while. But despite this, both are lonely. It's that sense of loneliness which is portrayed perfectly by the two actors, and as you watch, you really start to empathise with them, and by the end of the movie, all you are longing for is a happy ending. The question is, will there be one?
I saw this movie when it came out at the cinema. I went with my sister, on an Orange Wednesday. I ate popcorn. I cried.
The Lake House is a simple story of two people who are meant to be together, who are meant to love, who are meant to share their lives. And who are hampered by the singular fact that they live in two different times.
Parted by two years, they communicate via a letterbox on the grounds of The Lake House. A place they have both lived in, albeit at different times. A place where they have both felt more like themselves than they have done anywhere else in the world. A place where their truth and their joy, their sorrow and their memories mesh together in such a very real way. A place where dreams can come true and miracles can happen. A place that can connect them to each other, even across the great expanse of time.
I love the photography in this movie, it's shot with such an artistic sensibility - every shot is perfect, and the way that the director brings the most beautiful, almost abstracted shots of architecture into the film build a sense of solidity, the sense of building something tangible between the two characters. Some of the shots are just so unusual, so perfect, so beautiful, and you might think on first watching, why on earth does that shot need to be included? But as the film progresses, you understand, and it's this visual connection that brings you to that understanding.
I love the music too, it's perfect for the film, soft and slow and graceful in parts, sad and melancholic in others and it's composed with such a sense that the composer really understood the story, the characters, the setting, and wrote her music to truly complement all that.
The Lake House is, in short a beautiful film, and I recommend you see it when it comes out on DVD. In the UK , this will be 10th October 2006.
Director: Alejandro Agresti
Screenplay written by David Auburn, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Proof.
Music by Rachel Portman. Portman was the first female composer to win an Oscar for her score for Emma. She also wrote the music for The Ciderhouse Rules, Mona Lisa Smile and Chocolat.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 1998 - Drama - Director: Martin Brest - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Marcia Gay Harden, Jake Weber, Claire Forlani, Jeffrey Tambor
I didn't watch The Lake House at the cinema but after reading the reviews bought a copy.....and loved it! Great film!
arnoldhenryrufus 27.09.2006 21:12
you like this film then, :) - I really want to watch this - lyn x
ultrafrosty 25.09.2006 22:09
I quite fancied this one but never got around to seeing it... I'm guessing it's not just a repeat of Reeves and Bullock in Speed? That would be amusing... :o) D.
Dr. Kate Forster has finally found romance. Trouble is, it's a long-distance relationship. ... more
She's in downtown Chicago. He's in a remote lakeside suburb. And there's more: She's in 2006. He's in 2004.Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock team for the first tim...
How do you hold on to someone you've never met? An independent-minded doctor (Sandra ... more
Bullock) who once occupied an unusual lakeside home begins exchanging love letters with its newest resident a frustrated architect (Keanu Reeves). When they discover...
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Advantages: Romantic, great soundtrack, refreshingly different to other love story movies. Disadvantages: Makes you think and it can be confusing at times.
louise_julie82 27.11.2006 (27.11.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Lake House (DVD)
Advantages: Great cast, script, story and soundtrack. Somewhat unique in its premise Disadvantages: Some say its cheesy. Somewhat unreal storyline, sometimes confusing the first time through
liz1102 26.11.2006 (26.11.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Lake House (DVD)
![The Lake House [DVD] [2006]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78475124.jpg "The Lake House [DVD] [2006]")
Sep 25th, 2006
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