IL Mare (2000-South Korean)

IL Mare is a 2000 South Korean romantic fantasy that dares to be a little different. Americans should be familiar with the general plot line, since this is that The Lake House was the remake of.

These two people are locked in a weird romance, the man is living two years in the past and the girl is in present time. They communicate through this mailbox by letters or even by tape.

It was quite interesting to see the development between this two characters that were excellently played by their actors. Honestly this two were way better than Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. In comparison this film blows the Lake House out of the water.

First up Eun Joo (Jun Ji-Hyun) a beautiful young woman who moves out of the main house into an apartment complex in the city. Yet she keeps coming to the house and checking out the mail box after she discovers someone has written a letter back to her. With this character with have the modern female who was spurred by love but isn't afraid to find it again but is afraid to lose it. She is seen trying to fall in love but we know how that ends up.

Sung-hyun (Lee Jung-jae) is a man literally living in the past, he is the first tenant of IL Mare. He discovers Eun Joo's letters and starts to write back. He even gets back a tape recorder she lost 2 years ago. He is a strong character that we enjoy to see, it is very nice to see this character played so well.



I have to overall this film is great, I hate that the remake couldn't even match the level of this film. I suggest this film to all those that love romance movies, this will change your mind about the Lake House and Korean movies.

4/5