the lake house
I adore movies that center around books. I do. One of the reasons I love You've Got Mail so much is that Pride and Prejudice is so central to the plot. Not that I don't like movies that aren't about books, but there is something...deeper about the ones that do. For me, anyway. Perhaps it is the reminder that some things are universal. This movie, The Lake House, features another Jane Austen title, Persuasion. It works beautifully. This movie is beautiful. The copy of Persuasion is beautiful. The characters are beautiful. Well, you get the picture. There are so many things to say about this movie, but so few the I can actually get away with without ruining th eexperience for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. I'll just point out a few things that are insightful, true, enlightening:
Movies made/set in Chicago are fabulous. This movie shows the beauty and complexity of Chicago very nicely--even I, who have only been there once (thanks K&J for that one time), felt...there.
Movies that feature fabulous architecture are works of art just for that. The Lake House itself is amazing, as are the many Chicago buildings highlighted in the movie.
Movies with clips of Alfred Hitchcock films show wonderful insight by the director. In this case, it is Notorious.
Movies that make the audience applaud at the end are worth seeing twice. I'm going again next weekend.
I know that there are some scientific holes in this movie, but I think that's fitting. After all, science cannot unravel love, so why should a movie about love be perfect science. What is so lovely about this movie is the sparse technology that interferes, depite the contemporary time period. It reminds us that simplicity can still be found, and that love can sometimes best germinate in that simplicity. It also reminds us to embrace impossibility because sometimes we are surprised by the probablity of beauty and "rightness" within the most impossible of circumstances. What is most important is allowing ourselves to take the risk. This movie is about so many things, but I think what it most conveys is that true reward--true faery tales--never comes without being willing to risk. And, after all, isn't that what the best books try to show us?