A Winter’s Tale:
Time, Love, and a Mailbox in Il Mare
During the Advent season, we often long for heartwarming experiences, and there are films that perfectly satisfy this desire. For your Christmas watchlist, I highly recommend Il Mare (Siworae), a 2000 masterpiece by Director Lee Hyeon-seung—complete with holiday lights. This was the director's debut feature, and audiences immediately took it to their hearts.
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| Director Lee Hyeon-seung |
A romance unfolds before us: a woman living in a seaside house leaves a letter in the mailbox, and someone—a man, as we might have guessed—picks it up. They begin a correspondence, and these lonely souls find increasing comfort in each other’s company. However, the man is left puzzled by one thing: why does the girl date her letters two years into the future? Common sense aside, they must come to terms with the impossible—our pair are victims of a timeslip, and the man is actually a former resident of the same house. But as they say, love conquers all; we shall see if a two-year time gap proves an insurmountable obstacle or if they can find a way to meet in person.
Since the Korean soul is prone to resignation, it finds particular fulfillment in bittersweet or deeply melancholic moods. This film offers just the right amount of this—enough to be deeply romantic without becoming painful. Beyond the sweetness of the story, the film captivates its audience with its atmosphere; it feels much like clutching a glass of mulled wine in the biting winter cold. It is moving and fairy-tale-like at the same time; by the end, we will all find ourselves wishing for an equally extravagant seaside home, a magical mailbox, and perhaps Cola—one of the most charming dogs in cinema history—running through our living room.
Starring Jun Ji-hyun and Lee Jung-jae, along with the house, the mailbox, and, of course, Cola:
Hollywood soon set its sights on this success, and in 2006, they produced a rather lackluster remake titled The Lake House, directed by Alejandro Agresti and starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. Despite the star-studded cast, what was poetic, adult storytelling in the Korean original became over-explained and heavy-handed in the remake. What was poetically emotional delicacy in the original turned into grandiosity in the reproduction. If you have only seen the Hollywood version, I encourage you to seek out the original—you will be pleasantly surprised.
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