Il Mare (***)
review by Jon
Waterman
When Sung-hyun moves into his new house out on the lake, or “Il
Mare” as they say in Italian, he finds a Christmas card
addressed to him, the new tenant. It was left by Eun-ju, who
asks that the new resident forward all her mail. This comes
as a shock to Sung-hyun, because he’s pretty sure he’s
the first tenant. Not only that, but it’s only 1997,
not 1999 like the card states. He leaves a response in the
mailbox attempting to straighten out the confusion, and the
two begin corresponding with each other. The slowly sort everything
out and discover that somehow they are in fact living two years
apart, and they may just be falling for each other.
The film takes quite a while for the story to really get rolling.
It’s easy to understand their disbelief and apprehension,
considering time travel is possible neither in real life, nor
within the constructs of this movie. Or at least so they think….
So, the first half or so is spent watching them try to figure
out what we, the audience, knew going in. It takes even longer
for them to really start developing feelings for each other,
something we, the audience, expect and nearly need to have
happen sooner. The main reason for the delay on the latter
is that Eun-ju is still hung up on her cheating ex-boyfriend.
For some reason, whenever she feels like she might be ready
to get over the jerk, something new comes along to remind her
of the good times and Sung-hyun is left with stronger, unreciprocated
emotions. Oh, and a two year time difference.
A movie like this can only work if the guy is living in the
past. Think about it, if you’re a single guy and a hot
girl comes up to you with some seemingly inane story about
how a magical mailbox will help you form a relationship two
years from now, you’d probably go with it, just because
she’s hot. If you’re a girl and guy comes up and
tells you the exact same story, you’d probably give him
credit for creativity, but still break out the mace. So, they
have to correspond and arrange to meet two years from Sung-hyun’s
present time. This guy does a lot for this girl. He goes back
and retrieves stuff that she lost and runs errands and all
that kind of good stuff. Talk about whipped. And he’s
never even met her!
Now, once it gets moving in full force, it’s an effective
tale of unrequited and unredeemable love. It’s shot well
for the most part, although occasionally the poor camera work
overshadows the purpose of the more dynamic shots. I’m
glad they kept some of the major plot points hidden, because
it adds a nice touch helps to make the ending that much more
effective. Speaking of the ending, you can’t expect it
to perfectly make sense, no matter which way you slice it.
It’s just not possible, but considering the premise they’re
using, I can’t imagine a better one. It may take a while
to get going, but this film proves that love can stand the
test of time…at least for two years.
respond to jon@filmbrats.com
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