‘Lake House’ sacrifices time-space continuity for romance

It’s the basic plotline: Boy and girl have boring lives. Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Awkward romance ensues. Boy and girl are brought together by mailbox that surpasses the possibilities of reality, because boy lives two years behind girl.

Wait, what?

Sure enough, the storyline of “The Lake House” is one that should make people genuinely feel like it just doesn’t make sense. Sanda Bullock plays Kate Forster, a stiffly unhappy doctor who leaves her odd house on a lake near Chicago to pursue her career. However, the house, with its odd glass architecture that seems to suspend it over the water, becomes a place fated for strange happenstance. Alex Wyler, a brusque contractor played by Keanu Reeves, moves in. Despite Kate’s letter asking that Alex forward her mail to her new address, the dirty house looks as if it has not been lived in for many years.

After a few correspondences through the rather ancient mailbox in front of the lake house, the truth becomes clear: Kate is living in 2006, while Alex is in 2004.

The romance between the two characters grows, and they begin to share their odd habits and stories through the mailbox. When Kate recalls a blizzard in the same year Alex moves in, she sends him a scarf. When Alex writes about Kate’s nostalgic fondness for the trees at the lake, he takes a small sapling and plants it in front of where her apartment building will be completed. When she returns home from work, the grown tree is waiting for her.

Now, the movie is very pleasant. The characters are real and honest, with fears and hopes that the audience can only cross their fingers for. The dynamic of the filming gives it the feeling of a stage performance rather than a movie. As the two characters write letters, they sit in similar areas simultaneously as the actors read the words aloud. Combined with the diverse tracks of music chosen for the movie, it’s a neat package of love and well-rendered cinematography. We want this romance to work. We want the two characters to be happy.

But it just doesn’t make sense!

No matter how many times one watches the movie, it’s just impossible to see how such a thing would not completely tear apart the concept of time paradox. Especially towards the end, when Kate finds out Alex is in danger and saves his life, it just gets to the point that the audience laughs at how ludicrously the story twists the concept of reality.

However, the movie does not fail at making one feel good (albeit a bit confused). The quick switches between drama, romance and a bit of comedy make the movie encompass everything one would want in a fairy tale romance. I mean, if it’s something that obviously just can’t happen, why overanalyze it anyway?

“The Lake House” is now available on DVD and more than worth a look. Just don’t think too hard.