So they were sending letters sometimes with single sentences in them? - The Lake House (2006) Discussion

[–] przgzr 9 years ago

Why not? It is a kind of conversation. If Alex in 2004 and Kate in 2006 appear by a mailbox at the same time of the same day, and letters are sent immediately and can be read immediately by the other one, and they know that they can get an answer in few seconds, there is no need to write long letters. It is something like facebook, you can write someone a long message, but if you are both linked in the same time you can use chat and sometimes you will also write a single word.

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[–] forrykook 9 years ago

but how does that work when they're sitting in the park having their "first fight". This bit didn't work for me, I think it's a plot hole.

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[–] jgroub 9 years ago

It absolutely doesn't, you're completely right about this.

But, it's a romantic movie, you have to just sort of go along with it, suspend a little more disbelief. I mean, you suspended disbelief about the mailbox, right? Just go a little bit further.

I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

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[–] Canuck21 9 years ago

The park scene is just a visual representation of the fight, but they were not actually writing right there and then. Both were just thinking about their fight at the park. Just like the walk they had together. They wrote and read their letter before the walk, but to tell the story on film, you show them have the walk and you hear them read their conversation at the same time. You can't have everything literal and in sequence, that would make one very boring movie.

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[–] IMDB_Vits 9 years ago

There are also moments where they "interrupt" each other. How is that possible?

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[–] jeffer23 8 years ago

No letters had a single line in them and this is not a a plot hole. The movie would be too slow and boring if we had to hear multiple letters read to accomplish a thirty second conversation.

The movie simply arranged multiple conversations like they are together in the same room (or streets or parks) by speeding up the communications for better entertainment purposes. It is very likely they visited some of the same places to write their letters (kind of like how Alex gave Kate the tour of the buildings using the map). Also note that when they were in the park the views of Alex and Kate each showed different people and slight changes in the surroundings.

It is likely that Kate did receive letters in her mail box in addition to taking some mail from the box at the Lake House. At the beginning of the movie where the music is playing while the letters are displayed they show both Alex and Kate's address with a post mark stamps which means the letter was delivered by the post office. Essentially it entered the future at Alex's box and was then picked up by the mail person two years later. The opposite occurred for Kate's letters going to Alex.

EDIT* I may be wrong or partially wrong on the last paragraph above. When Kate stopped reading Alex's letters they stayed in his box. Perhaps the post office date stamps are inaccurate (plot hole) or perhaps the magic that sent the letters stopped working while she lost interest in Alex.

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[–] roboh-1 8 years ago

Weren't there some very short messages when they first discover the magic of the mailbox? Something like "Is this real?"?

=*=*=*=*=
The main reason that Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live

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[–] jeffer23 8 years ago

That is true. In this case both of them are standing at the mailbox at that moment, so it was easy to do the back and forth.

But the same style of communication is presented in the movie while she goes on the tour in the city using his map to see the buildings. Her comments occur in time with visuals of the buildings and graffiti (all in present tense grammar). In this this case along with several others in the movie (hospital cafeteria, city park, subway, critically ill patient's room, etc.) this style of communications would have been nearly impossible. In one part of the building tour sequence she simply says "Alex" and he responds with "Kate" as though it is live with them together but nobody would write a name with no sentence on a sheet of paper and put it in the mailbox.

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[–] roboh-1 8 years ago

Yes, I agree with that.

=*=*=*=*=
The main reason that Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live

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[–] lokis_angels 7 years ago

I see how you feel about this, but I would probably be more annoyed if I had to watch it "in real time". Kate getting the letter including the tour, actually walking around, then the conversation letter by letter. I mean, that would make the movie at least 30 minutes longer. It was just ok the way it was.

Ow, I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?

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[–] jeffer23 7 years ago

I agree. It would make the movie too slow to do it so that everything is precise according to how the system supposedly worked.

It appears Kate had a much more lengthy drive every time she went to the mail box to communicate with Alex. These conversations would probably stretch over quite a bit of time in reality.

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[–] moogie (194) 6 years ago

I agree, good answer. I hadn't thought about the post marks at all but I believe the magic stopped when she lost interest and letters weren't being picked up anymore. And of course their conversations (the fight in the park, the walk with the map, the cafeteria) were being written before or after those scenes - the scenes were presented for the flow and romance for the story to continue for the audience.
I love this movie but it's one of those timy-wimy ones that twist your brain round and round, so I have a question, and though I should have figured this out myself I would like to hear some other viewpoints: Speaking about the "letter writing only" when Kate and Alex were making dinner plans and putting aside what we saw visually, the letters were timed so that once a restaurant was chosen, the comments then could be made "see you in two years" and "see you tomorrow". Now I know what I am supposed to be thinking and feeling to keep the fantasy, but tell me the reality to it if that is even possible (and I hope this makes sense) ... from this point, wouldn't Alex be writing letters of anticipation for the date to Kate during those two years, and wouldn't Kate have received a ton of letter from the day she tells Alex she will meet him to the following day when she gets dressed up and goes to the restaurant?? This might be impossible to answer sensibly.

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[–] smidget28 (769) a year ago

Standing by the mailbox....waiting for each sentence, that could work.

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