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IL Mare and The Lake House
Watched The Lakehouse, which stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, yesterday with my mom and sister. As planned, we watched it twice. We're already at the cinema for the first screening hour and then went again on the 2nd screening. My mom can't get enough of Keanu, that's for sure, that she watched it again today with her friend from her previous work. She's still planning to watch it with her other sets of friends. she won't stop until it's been replaced by a new one.
Anyways, I'm glad that Hollywood remained true (for a change) to the original film, Il Mare - a korean film with Jeon Je Hyun and Lee Jung Jae, where it was based. Well, they did modify some of the characters' background as well as added a few scenes and stoylines.
Lee Jung Jae
* architectural student who's 1 semester away from graduating
* worked as a construction worker while on leave from school
* stayed at Il Mare, a house by the seas owned by his aunt and designed by his dad
* dad's a professor at the university where he was studying, who later on died without them reconciling
* no brother, just a trusted friend
* died because he was hit by a car while he was crossing the street to head towards where JJH and her boyfriend were having their last date before he left for the US; he caught JJH's attention because the accident was just right by the window where she and her boyfriend was sitted
Keanu Reeves
* architect who's making a name for himself
* stays at the house by the lake, which was designed by his dad and where they lived a long time ago when his mom was still with them
* dad's an established architect who owns a firm where his younger brother works (also an architect)
* had a mother who left them and died some years ago; her death caused the friction between him and his dad
* died because he was hit by a car or truck when these two had their accident; he was tried to be saved by SB but died on her arms
Jeon Ji Hyun
* a voice talent and works part-time at a manga book store/library
* had a boyfriend who left for the US after they finished university but left her for another girl
* had a family who's living in her hometown, Jeju Island, while she's staying in Seoul
Sandra Bullock
* an internist
* has a boyfriend who transferred location of work just to be with her
* has a mother; her dad died a few years back (or a year ago, can't remember anymore)
Added Scenes/Storyline:
* KR met SB way back in 2004, before they even have the mysterious exchange of letter
~ from the original, there no such scenes. LJJ and JJH were totally strangers until they met at the end of the film. this means that there was no similar party in Il Mare; no similar porch scene where they talked about the book Persuasion (there was no book involve in Il Mare similar to Persuasion)
* kissing scenes were also added to The Lake House as oppose to none in Il Mare
The Lake House was actually made with more romantic scenes. It focused more on the developing love between two people who are indeed from two different years. Il Mare, on the other hand, showed the developing love between two people who were from different times in such that it's not very much evident. The movie itself doesn't revolve only with the love that would be developing through the exchange of letters. Basically, in TLH, it is very much obvious that the both of them are already feeling something for each other because they already had a connection 2 years ago. In IM, it was more on the guy falling for the girl because the girl was still mending a broken heart from the past relationship. It was only until the very last scenes that it was shown how she already developed a liking for him.
The Lake House's ending is very much closed. It was definite that they ended up together. It's pretty much still an open ending for Il Mare. As oppose to the kissing scene between Keanu and Sandra where The Lake House ended, Il Mare ended as Jung Jae walked towards the moving out Ji Hyun and showed her the letter he had on his pocket while asking her if she's ready to listen for an unbelievable story. Keanu went back to the lake house at the time Sandra mentioned she's there while Jung Jae went back to Il Mare because it was the date that was written on the card that was left by Ji Hyun at the beginning of the film. Well, it's not really an open ending since we can already conclude that they also that they ended up together. It's just that the Hollywood version's ending was more assured than the original Korean film. I think this is always a difference between an American film and an Asian film.
As a whole, I was not disappointed with the Hollywood adoptation of Il Mare, and I'm glad I wasn't. I like Il Mare from the time i've seen it about a year ago and I was actually a bit hesitant to watch the Hollywood version since Hollywood is notorious for, how should I say it nicely, adopting something but totally changing it, just like The Ring. And just what my mom said earlier, it's good that they had Keanu Reeves. I mean, I know that a number really don't like him and the way he acts, but we must admit that he's a total hottie and really popular. I'm no big Keanu-fan, as what I said from my past post, but I always watch his film. He acts fairly ok. I liked him from the time he played Neo in Matrix. And to those who hasn't seen the original version, I recommend that you guys watch it. Not for comparison purposes or whatsover but it's always good to see the orginal one, right? And oh, I actually ripped the insert songs from Il Mare from a long time ago. It's really a good one. I also like the songs from The Lake House. I hope to see a copy on our music stores here from where I am.
Il Mare Song [english version]
Il Mare Song [instrumental]
Il Mare Song [korean ver-clipped]