Movie Review Black Los Angeles

BlackNLA Movie Reviews

*****THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*****

by Edwardo Jackson

BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare

THE LAKE HOUSE (PG)

MOVIE BIASES: Great concept, great couple.

MAJOR PLAYERS: Keanu Reeves (Speed), Sandra Bullock (Speed), Christopher Plummer (Syriana), writer David Auburn (Proof), and director Alejandro Agresti (Valentin)

I am an impatient man. The type that wants everything yesterday. Occasionally that spills over into my personal relationships, particularly in the disproportionate share of long-distance ones I've had. So maybe it is this background of periodic romantic denial I carried into seeing Reeves and Bullock's first reunion since their 1994 actioner "Speed," but "The Lake House" feels as if it were built for all, if not just for me.

Having just finished her residency in a North Shore hospital, Kate's (Bullock) moving out while Chicago architect Alex (Reeves) is moving in. While settling into the titular domicile, an all glass construction built on stilts on the edge of a lake, Alex notices a note left behind in the mailbox by the house's previous owner Kate. Responding with a note of his own that he places in the mailbox, Alex begins a correspondence of handwritten missives with Kate, soon realizing that the woman he has been writing to is separated from him not by distance but by TIME. Alex lives exactly two years to the day apart from Kate; he's living in 2004 while she's in 2006. They are
linked by way of a shaggy dog, a magic mailbox that hurtles their letters back and forth through time, and an unrealistic yet all too real, deepening affection for each other.

Lushly visual and unapologetically romantic, "The Lake House" is as timeless and unabashed a tearjerker as I have seen in awhile. No, I have not drank "The Notebook" Kool-Aid, as that movie was more sappy, treacly, and obvious than heartfelt, sincere, and well written. And this "House" has a strong foundation. Pulitzer Prize winning playwright David Auburn sponsors a straightforward script of emotional and theoretical complications that simultaneously keeps your brain and
heart engaged (just the time shifting alone - without an idiot chyron at the bottom of the screen to dumb it down for you - maintains your mental alertness). Agresti's first Hollywood feature is an ocular paean to the city of Chicago's greatness (you like that, my Chitown peeps?), particularly when Alex sends Kate on a walking tour of the Second City. Of course, these are three-dimensional people, with their lives and almost-loves integral to the mix. There is a big reveal towards the end which isn't that much of a reveal if you're astute, a movie-plotting know-it-all, or a jaded screenwriter; but then I love what the filmmakers do with our innately smug, assuming selves by turning our own anticipation onto itself for an ending of surprising resonance and emotion. Throw in homages to Jane Austen and Cary Grant and this movie is on romance overload - in a good, Velveeta-free way.

She's a doctor who is isolated by the demands of her time-consuming profession. He's an architect who isolates himself from the legacy of his own aloof, legendary architect father (Plummer). Together, Sandra and Keanu make a wonderful pair, with effortless chemistry - albeit apart - as two mildly successful, entirely relatable professionals whose lives are unbalanced towards career versus home (as are many of my single friends). Both actors play their characters completely straight, without a wink at the camera (or the concept) to be found, easily allowing for your suspension of disbelief. And once invested, you realize that you know people like Kate and Alex, with the Internet spawning similar relationships left and right that separate would-be couples by distance, timing, and their own fear of actualizing
romanticized thoughts and expressions. In fact, it's part of what draws Kate to her impossible romance with Alex, because "it's safe" and "the story of my life: I keep everyone at a distance."

Why are we genuinely afraid of getting everything we ever wished for, going so far as to self-sabotage relationships or potential ones, so we may never take the all-important risk that truly pays off in the reward of love? Like Kate, are we more in love with an idea of love than actually experiencing love itself, to the point that we guard ourselves so aggressively from it for fear of getting it and losing it, or not getting it at all? That explains Kate when she says "The one man I can never meet, I would I would like to give my whole heart to."

But let's say that she, and we, actually DO want to actualize physically-challenged love. After being exposed to the beauty of your lover's innermost soul, could you deal with having that idyllic image spoiled by their pedestrian, in-the-flesh person? Could you wait two years for the love of your life (Kate: "What if you wait your whole
life and there's nobody for you?")?

Only cynics and the heartless can hate on this movie. "The Lake House" is as satisfying a romance as I have seen; so much so, it might just - gasp! - make me a patient man. Might.

@@@@ REELS
(FOUR REELS)
An urban legend/instant classic.

Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com!

Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com




			BlackNLA Movie Reviews ***THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*** by Edwardo Jackson BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare THE LAKE HOUSE (PG) MOVIE BIASES: Great concept, great couple. MAJOR PLAYERS: Keanu Reeves (Speed), Sandra Bullock (Speed), Christopher Plummer (Syriana), writer David Auburn (Proof), and director Alejandro Agresti (Valentin) I am an impatient man. The type that wants everything yesterday. Occasionally that spills over into my personal relationships, particularly in the disproportionate share of long-distance ones I've had. So maybe it is this background of periodic romantic denial I carried into seeing Reeves and Bullock's first reunion since their 1994 actioner "Speed," but "The Lake House" feels as if it were built for all, if not just for me. Having just finished her residency in a North Shore hospital, Kate's (Bullock) moving out while Chicago architect Alex (Reeves) is moving in. While settling into the titular domicile, an all glass construction built on stilts on the edge of a lake, Alex notices a note left behind in the mailbox by the house's previous owner Kate. Responding with a note of his own that he places in the mailbox, Alex begins a correspondence of handwritten missives with Kate, soon realizing that the woman he has been writing to is separated from him not by distance but by TIME. Alex lives exactly two years to the day apart from Kate; he's living in 2004 while she's in 2006. They are linked by way of a shaggy dog, a magic mailbox that hurtles their letters back and forth through time, and an unrealistic yet all too real, deepening affection for each other. Lushly visual and unapologetically romantic, "The Lake House" is as timeless and unabashed a tearjerker as I have seen in awhile. No, I have not drank "The Notebook" Kool-Aid, as that movie was more sappy, treacly, and obvious than heartfelt, sincere, and well written. And this "House" has a strong foundation. Pulitzer Prize winning playwright David Auburn sponsors a straightforward script of emotional and theoretical complications that simultaneously keeps your brain and heart engaged (just the time shifting alone - without an idiot chyron at the bottom of the screen to dumb it down for you - maintains your mental alertness). Agresti's first Hollywood feature is an ocular paean to the city of Chicago's greatness (you like that, my Chitown peeps?), particularly when Alex sends Kate on a walking tour of the Second City. Of course, these are three-dimensional people, with their lives and almost-loves integral to the mix. There is a big reveal towards the end which isn't that much of a reveal if you're astute, a movie-plotting know-it-all, or a jaded screenwriter; but then I love what the filmmakers do with our innately smug, assuming selves by turning our own anticipation onto itself for an ending of surprising resonance and emotion. Throw in homages to Jane Austen and Cary Grant and this movie is on romance overload - in a good, Velveeta-free way. She's a doctor who is isolated by the demands of her time-consuming profession. He's an architect who isolates himself from the legacy of his own aloof, legendary architect father (Plummer). Together, Sandra and Keanu make a wonderful pair, with effortless chemistry - albeit apart - as two mildly successful, entirely relatable professionals whose lives are unbalanced towards career versus home (as are many of my single friends). Both actors play their characters completely straight, without a wink at the camera (or the concept) to be found, easily allowing for your suspension of disbelief. And once invested, you realize that you know people like Kate and Alex, with the Internet spawning similar relationships left and right that separate would-be couples by distance, timing, and their own fear of actualizing romanticized thoughts and expressions. In fact, it's part of what draws Kate to her impossible romance with Alex, because "it's safe" and "the story of my life: I keep everyone at a distance." Why are we genuinely afraid of getting everything we ever wished for, going so far as to self-sabotage relationships or potential ones, so we may never take the all-important risk that truly pays off in the reward of love? Like Kate, are we more in love with an idea of love than actually experiencing love itself, to the point that we guard ourselves so aggressively from it for fear of getting it and losing it, or not getting it at all? That explains Kate when she says "The one man I can never meet, I would I would like to give my whole heart to." But let's say that she, and we, actually DO want to actualize physically-challenged love. After being exposed to the beauty of your lover's innermost soul, could you deal with having that idyllic image spoiled by their pedestrian, in-the-flesh person? Could you wait two years for the love of your life (Kate: "What if you wait your whole life and there's nobody for you?")? Only cynics and the heartless can hate on this movie. "The Lake House" is as satisfying a romance as I have seen; so much so, it might just - gasp! - make me a patient man. Might. @@@@ REELS (FOUR REELS) An urban legend/instant classic. Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com! Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com © 2004, Edwardo Jackson