I've read the reviews on various sites and, frankly, I'm not surprised. I almost saw them coming. "why doesn't she google him ? " "Why don't they send e-mails, pictures, etc" "what's with all this time-travel BS? " and so on and so forth. OK, so this movie is no Oscar material. so what ? it wasn't intended to be in the first place. it's a touching story about loneliness, introversion, search for one's true self, true love, second chances... and the handwritten letters are something that defines the characters. they are not business people, not over-pragmatic, not interested only in instant gratification. Both characters are portraited as romantic in a nice old-fashioned way, looking for personal touch, for soul-mates, for that "something" that nowadays is , unfortunately, forgotten. this relationship has nothing to do with messenger or google or SMS. it's a connection between two souls, not wireless instant communication.

the timelines aren't too clear, I agree, but that makes the intriguing quality of the movie. nothing is served on a silver platter, we have to think, to figure it out, to try to understand...and finally to let go of logic and follow our intuition . it's not easy. and the movie definitely needs to be seen at least twice, to get it right.

(posted on IMDb as 'taifunu' on 28.06.2006)

later edit - as of today .
Also watched 'Il Mare' - the original movie on which this 'Hollywood' remake was based. and it's very interesting to see the similarities and the differences , the translation of a South Koreean modern story into an American story...  there's an attention for the details, as in the red coat of the heroine,  detail found in both movies.  but the main difference is in the ending/s ... and no, not gonna reveal it for you. go rent the DVDs. support the industry. make movie producers happy ;)