"Il Mare" (Italian for 'the sea'), an audience favorite at the 2000 Pusan International Film Festival. It creates a refreshing and heartfelt story about two lonely people, both live there two years apart in time, who are able to communicate through a mysterious post box.
The story begins at the tail end of 1999, as voiceover actress Eun-joo (Jun Ji-hyun) moves out of a seaside home named 'Il Mare'. Before leaving, Eun-joo leaves a Christmas card in the mailbox, with a message asking the eventual new owner to forward any mail of hers to her new address in the city. Meanwhile, exactly two years prior in 1997, Il Mare's first owner, architect Sung-hyun (Lee Jung-jae, who recently co-starred opposite Shim Eun-ha in "The Interview"), receives Eun-joo's card. Thinking it to be a joke, he writes back to Eun-joo and asks her not to tamper with his mailbox anymore, while pointing out that the 'current year' is 1997.
However, after a bit of back-and-forth banter, all doubt about the magical properties of the mailbox are soon erased, and Eun-joo and Sung-hyun begin sending regular correspondence to each other. In addition to finding out that they are both kindred spirits, they come up with new uses for their unique connection: Sung-hyun is able to return a tape recorder that Eun-joo lost two years ago, while Eun-joo is able to send back a still-unpublished book by Sung-hyun's estranged father. Eventually, they agree to meet in person-- an uneasy task given their separate time periods. Though the agreed-upon day is only a week away from Eun-joo's perspective, it is still a full two years from where Sung-hyun stands. Will these two lovelorn pen pals meet?
The film was remade by Warner Brothers starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves, to be released in 2006 as The Lake House.
from Anthony Leong