Synopsis:
SECRET is Jay Chou’s directorial debut that deals with the memory of first love. The first day Lun (Chou) enters Tamkang Secondary School, he meets Yu (Kwai Lun-Mei) in the music room when she is playing a mysterious piano solo. The two become intimate friends and spend a lot of time together. He often asks her "What's the melody you played the first day we met?" but Yu unfailingly replies: "That's my secret." One day, Lun asks Yu to meet him in the music room. But accidentally, they did not meet and Yu never shows up again. It seems that Yu has disappeared from this world. Later, Lun sees Yu in an old photograph and what surprises him is that Yu is standing next to his father, Chiu (Anthony Wong) in the photo! The secrets behind Yu and the mysterious melody are going to be unlashed…

Reviews:
I did not expect to watch this movie but Mingli wanted to watch it and I've heard ratings about this movie saying how good this is. I did not expect this movie to turn out good. I have never really liked Jay Chou as a person but I have got to say I hear his songs but I only like his slow songs and most of the songs he wrote for other singers are nice and I listened to it too. But in this movie, it changed my opinion of him as a person. He really is very talented. I'm not really a classical music kind of person and I've always grew up in such an environment cause my dad loves to listen to classical music and I have got to say, Jay is damn good with his hands at piano. I will never get to see his hidden talent if it weren't for this movie. I would want to see the making if possible as I wondered how many NGs he require to take to film that scene where he challenged the piano with another pianist in the movie. Though there weren't any soundtracks in the movie, music played in the last scene really touched everyone. I heard girls sniffing their noses.

Jay Chou's debut attempt at directing movies was not bad. But come to think of it, he directed his every other MVs too so what is there to comment about his skills. He must be a perfectionist when it comes to his own works. And the original screenplay is by himself, I must say the storyline is really unexpected. We had later thought that the girl could be dead all this time but it was actually not. So the storyline is really very fresh as he made use of his talent in music to film this movie and added that in the screenplay. So we always get to watch his hands in playing the piano. Kwai Lun Mei can act. But I feel the story of her in Guang Liang's Yue Ding's MV and in Secret has resemblance except she was a mute in the MV. But I really could not recognise her in the MV at all once I watch it again. SHe looked so different then. Maybe cause she had make-up and she was in long hair? She looked really plain jane in Secret. I dun think the actress had make-up except for powder cause all of them looked pale.

I dunno if Kwai Lun Mei can really play the piano too but they could prob teach her a bit then get a professional to play as her. But I think the piano scenes was really played by her cause I dun remember seeing any scenes where they just showed her hands only. Most of the scenes were on her side view and her hands on the piano itself, same goes to Jay Chou. Think that was what Jay wanted so that the audience won't think that they have used replacement. Only the scene where Jay was cooking and cutting the vegetables were not played by Jay himself cause he really did not know how to cook. So that only scene only showed his hands cutting the carrots and vegetables.

I feel that the costumes in the movie like their uniform are so nice. It really looks like some good reputable school you normally see in manga. It was so westernised and the setting in the movie is so non-Taiwan. It looks more on the village or countryside. The cast in this moive is niether pretty nor good looking. Kwai Lun Mei looks so plain and ordinary and she did not have much make-up which is probably Jay's idea of how student should be and perhaps to make audience think she's sick.

Who should watch Secret?
- If you love Jay Chou's music or him as a person, should watch Secret.
- If you wanna find out if this movie was really good like what I was referring to and whether it deserved the 5 stars, should watch Secret.
- If you dunno who Jay Chou is but love music a lot especially piano music, should watch Secret.
- If you have to choose one Chinese movie to watch between 881 and Secret, should watch Secret

Ratings:
Storyline: 8.5/10 (Really touching story with an unexpected twist of storyline. But the ending part should have elaborated somemore. It required the audience to think after that)
Acting: 8/10 (I would say Jay Chou's acting have improved as compared to Initial D and he definitely speaks a lot in this movie than in real life but I did not get to watch Jay Chou in Curse of the Golden Flower, Kwai Lun Mei's acting is good for a first timer at movies. I've only watched the Tue Ding MV she filmed with Guang Liang)
Humour: 8/10 (Thought this was supposed to be a romantic story but it was hilarious at parts thanks to Anthony Wong!)
Overall: 5/5 stars (Great movie - A must watch!!! P.S: I'm gonna wait for DVD to release)

Labels: movie, reviews, synopsis

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