In the 2006 film The Lake Home, a tree whose seasonally altering leaves mirror the sentiments of the protagonists grows by means of the middle of a house. We all know that Keanu Reeves is with the unsuitable lady as a result of she doesn’t put on winter boots. And that Sandra Bullock is with the unsuitable man as a result of he wears a tie whereas working from residence. Keanu and Sandra, alternatively, know the way to decorate for a Chicago February, he with a most wonderful array of turtleneck sweaters, she with an ample assortment of vogue scarves. They’re meant for one another. The Lake Home is just not delicate, and it’s not good. However it captures winter in Chicago higher than every other movie.
A quick abstract: Keanu’s Alex lives in 2004. Sandra’s Kate lives in 2006. But they personal the identical canine, and because of a mystical mailbox, they write letters to one another by means of area and time. They fall in love, however the impediment holding them aside appears insurmountable, at the same time as star-crossed romances go. Spoiler alert, for anybody who doesn’t desire a 15-year-old film spoiled: Alex is lifeless, kind of?
Shifting on. Whereas The Lake Home doesn’t have grasp of physics or emotional restraint, it does get one factor proper. A lot of the film takes place exterior, on L platforms and at building websites, meandering from the Loop to the titular lake home, which was constructed for the film (and later torn down) in Willow Springs. The bottom is moist, the snow all the time half melted — the Chicago of The Lake Home is just not the winter fantasyland of Dwelling Alone. That is nuisance snow that slops on the hem of our pants and makes us curse after we step off the curb. There’s additionally the optimism of these few cracklingly clear winter days when the sky is blue, the air is lighter, and you’ll see simply sufficient floor to do not forget that the grime continues to be there and it received’t all the time be mud.
At one level, Kate tries, unsuccessfully, to save lots of Alex from catching a chilly by warning him of an April snowstorm, a Chicago ritual. “Everybody received sick,” she writes. In the meantime, Alex cooks soup, and you’ll see the flurries begin to swirl by means of the window over his shoulder. He sneezes.
Ultimately, in fact, the snow stops. The solar comes out. Alex is effectively. His reward for making it by means of that freakish episode is spring.