Desertman84 Il Mare is a film about love story between two people separated by time. It touches the theme about long distance relationship. The plot is original and refreshing. In fact, Hollywood picked it up and remade it into a film that reunited the stars of Speed,Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock,entitled Lake House. The acting was excellent. Both Lee Jung-jae and Jun Ji-Hyun,were great as lovers writing letter to each other and sending it to the mysterious mailbox. The cinematography was commendable as well. The ending can be very sad and the last scene may provide confusion to a lot of viewers. But overall, the film is a must-see not only for Jun Ji- Hyun fans but for people who have appreciate great love stories. How does Il Mare compare to the Hollywood remake,Lake House?Il Mare was a lot better than The Lake House. Here are the reasons why.1. Il Mare keeps the audience guessing as to what is going to happen next while the plot is clichéd in The Lake House.2. You care more about Han Sung-hyun and Kim Eun-ju in the Korean version as compared to Alex and Kate in the Hollywood version. Credit that to Jun Ji-Hyun's performance as she has the ability to make you sympathize with her characters in her films. While in the Hollywood version, Keanu Reeves is not fit for any kind of romantic leads for he is more suited for action films like Speed and the Matrix.3. There was more emotion in the Korean version as compared to that of the Hollywood version. You know that the leads do care a lot for each other. 4. The Korean version focused on both leads and their loneliness while the Hollywood version involved more characters which made the viewer felt less for the emotions of the leads.5. Finally, the use of mailbox and writing letters was probably still common in South Korea during 1997 and 1999 in the Korean version while the use of email,google and the internet was already a way of life in the United States during 2004 and 2006 in the Hollywood version which made the plot of The Lake House less realistic and presented more plot holes. For movie fans, check Il Mare instead of The Lake House.

Atreyu_II First of all, this was the first time I ever saw a korean film. I only knew about its existence after hearing of and watching the American remake. Sadly remakes have that effect.Of course that, by being the original, originality triumphs over the remake. The remake cannot be considered original for the simple reason of being a remake.The plot of both versions is virtually identical. However, the korean version takes place some years sooner and in a very different culture and society. Plus, it has many originalities of its own.Although as confusing as the remake, I'm much less critical on the original - it is more complete, richer in details, truer, more touching and sentimental and beautifully photographed. Even the actors are more believable in comparison. The remake, of course, doesn't repeat the original's formula and was obviously made to "match" the American standards.

jasmin_t68 Having accepted the premise of two people living in different times and communicating with each other, there are still serious problems regarding the handling of this premise. Besides this, the script is not void of consistency problems. The remade movie with Reeves and Bullock has a far superior script and therefor is a better and more convincing piece of art work. The subject matters Il Mare is dealing with are indeed quite romantic. But this is true for a lot of mediocre TV-work, which is on par with European or American standards. To be a really good movie, there must, in my opinion, be no consistency problems. I can love a movie, and this does not necessarily make it a good movie. I do not like Il Mare, but I kind of love The Lake House due to the subject, the production values AND the very well done script.

illian420 This is a wonderful film. It is the first korean film I ever saw and I was not disappointed at all. Recently the remake of this movie, The Lake House, came out in the US. I had to see it of course to compare. I still prefer the original.The music in the korean version is just spellbinding and beautiful. It gives a wonderful lovey dovey/kinda sad mysterious feeling to the whole movie. It kind of connects the whole movie together which I didn't feel in the remake b/c they kept using random music that didn't mix well to me.I don't know much about Korea but watching the film gives me more of a sense of how it is over there and how things are different from my own country. The Lake House didn't really give any feel as to how the US country is.. maybe b/c it wasn't anything original. There were too many holes in the US version too. And even though I've seen the original a lot, the remake confused me a bit even about the time period. don't even get me started on the other changes they made to the plot, as well as new characters, etc.The korean film left you guessing more and didn't just hand over the whole plot and clenchers like the remake. There was more emotion in the korean and more surprising. It's so dramatic and heart clenching and ugh.. just makes you want to cry.Don't let subtitles scare you away.. go find this movie and watch it.