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But scenes like this do raise other problems. It is understandable that Alex, as he begins to fall in love with Kate, would want to track her down and see what she is up to in 2004, even though she has never heard of him yet. But Kate doesn't express any interest in tracking Alex down to see what has become of him in 2006, even though he would obviously remember her. For that matter, while Alex does ask what the world is like in the future—but without getting into specifics, like who won the presidential election—he never expresses any curiosity in his own future. In a world where people Google each other before their first date, this seems unlikely.

The Lake House also falls into that trap that afflicts so many time-travel stories, in which the filmmakers cannot decide if the future is already fated, and the characters are just living through the experience, or if the future—and therefore the past-is open to revision. Frequency got around this by openly embracing revisionism, but The Lake House seems to want a sense of tragic inevitability, all the better for jerking tears out of the audience; however, the film can't quite commit to this, and so there are isolated scenes in which actions in the past produce spontaneous changes in the future. And it all leads to an ending that is just riddled with holes.

When Alex and Kate meet at the lake house, anything could happen

The film's narrative problems are compounded by Agresti's laid-back direction, which may work for the porch scene at the party mentioned above, but all too often just leaves scenes sitting there, without grabbing the audience or taking us any deeper into the lives of the characters. Several scenes end abruptly, or they just fade away. Put this uncertain style together with the complications of sending messages through time, and the film seems both overworked and undercooked. Oh, and did I mention the somewhat clunky plot mechanics involving a super-intelligent dog who bridges the two timelines? The titular house by the lake sure is pretty, though.

1. What would your first question be if you met someone from the future? Would you want to know about the world? Yourself? Are there some things we should not know about the future?
   
   
2. What does this film say about the future—is it fixed, or is it flexible? Are certain lovers "meant to be," or is it always a matter of choice? Note also how, when Kate asks why her mother didn't stick with a certain boyfriend in her younger days, her mother replies that it was so she could have Kate. Are our births "meant to be"?
   
   
3. Is it possible to love someone you have never met? How? Can you get to know someone through an exchange of letters? Through e-mails? If we live in our bodies, as incarnational beings, how important is physical proximity?
   
   
4. What do you make of Alex's actions at Kate's birthday party? Is it okay that he tried to kiss Kate, because he knows that she will not be with her boyfriend any more in the near future? Is there a sense in which relationships transcend time?

The Lake House is rated PG for some language (a four-letter word or two, Christ's name taken in vain a couple times) and "a disturbing image"—probably the one of the traffic accident that leaves a victim lying in the street.

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from Film Forum, 06/22/06
The last time Keanu Reeves played a time traveler, it was 1989, his name was Bill, and his partner in trouble-making was a dude named Ted. The last time he got romantic with Sandra Bullock, he was a cop on a bomb-rigged bus.

Now, Reeves is time-traveling and courting Bullock in The Lake House, a remake of a Korean film called Siworae (also known as Il Mare).

The film, directed by Alejandro Agresti, isn't quite up to code, according to Christian press film critics. John Cusack, who was reportedly invited to star in the film, turned it down, and it sounds like that might have been a wise move. The film features supporting work by Christopher Plummer (The New World) and Shoreh Aghdashloo (who will play Elizabeth in The Nativity Story).

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