Yes, its nice. But its not because i'm a Jay fan i think is nice. I give this a 4.2stars rating, if i'm just another audience, i would give it a 4.5stars rating.
Think of Taiwanese films. How much better are theirs from our local films? Maybe a bigger market but can you name 3 taiwanese films that you can remember? remember, this movie is still ultimately a taiwanese movie. it aint comparable to the Hong Kong's blockbusters but as a 小品, or even as a Chinese/Asian film, i think the genre had been rather refreshing and well handled.
Firstly, the brand "Jay Chou".
Yes, the media is raving about how That name alone is able to guarantee box office. That, is not totally true.
Do you really think all Jay fans are blind supporters and all will patronise his movies? Some are so, rest are not. The rest are the ones attracted to Jay Chou the Singer. Jay Chou the Actor, Jay Chou the Director? it still boils down to their pre-movie opinion, if the movie itself is worth the ticket price.
And the non Jay fans. Yah, there's the neutral pool and the bias group. The bias ones ignore the plot, the story and the whole movie. i think you guys get the point.
Jay Chou and Kwai Lun-Mei
Frankly speaking, i think they are not properly groomed enough. Jay Chou, he still has that little 1mm length of his beardy face not cleaned. Surely there's shaving cream and shaver. that made Jay look a bit old. and Kwai, somehow the pictures of her on news reports recently had been quite pretty, classy. yet in the movie, without much powder, she looked a bit shag and aint really too pretty.
But i must admit the duo were quite cute and sweet in the show. the little senseless interaction between them makes you edge up a gentle smile. and it is indeed very refreshing, or an eye-opener to see Jay being cute. Yes! C.U.T.E.!
Anthony Wong, he's darn funny. i love especially, how he consoles Jay. that was funny. i noticed from another review on this line Anthony said, "People who dont listen to music are bad guys". i wonder if this rings a ear to fellow jay supporters. but it seems an adaption and a slight reformating to what Jay once said, infamously, "学音乐的小孩不会变坏".
and Jay used his mum's surname 'Yeh' as the surname of his character, if you noticed.
弹头from南拳妈妈and the 阿郎who is actually 黄俊郎who wrote lyrics for 夜曲etc., this pair is damn super funny la. they provide the light moments(sometimes Anthony Wong contributes too) which this semi-sad/solemn/sweet love story needs.
the piano duel between 宇豪of 南拳妈妈 and Jay, was simply fascinating. it started on a funny note, thanks to the funny senior who doubled as the unofficial emcee of the duel. but the duel is fascinating, if not for the difficulty involved, i think it would make one feel like learning the piano. but reality sets back after the duel, absolutely a nice scene.
Yes, "Secret" is not just another love story. Yes, there's a plot twist at 2/3 of the movie timeline. Yes, 'thanks' to the many media reports, i knew before i stepped into the theatre that, 小雨came from another era and there's time travel. scolding me for being a spoiler? i was scolding the media reports for being spoilers earlier, but you know what, its better to know the movie knowing there's time travel involved. why?
Because there are some hidden messages/hints in 小雨's lines right from the start, you would better appreciate it rather than wait till the plot change which gives an answer but does not let you appreciate the process of the movie well enough.
So is 小雨 Jay's Mum? Which era is she from? that you will have to enjoy and scout from the movie.
The love story between the duo is a very fast going, love story. its really sweet first love. makes you wanna fall in love like that too, but the plot twist probably .... but how many can claim a love like that? not Jay himself, as he said.
The twist, yes, has many repeated earlier scenes but viewed fom another angle. its nicely done. and i mentioned in my review on its trailer that it felt Harry Potter-ish. but the movie itself really isnt so. the ending scene which gave the Harry Potter-ish feel, it was a bit rushed and the focus was simply only on Jay. The visual effects, i think it should be considered alright for Asian standards but compared to the ones of Spiderman those, at least we do know they are MIC, Made In Computer.
How can i leave out the music? the theme song "Secret" is not heard until the credits are seen. but there's no lack of music, pop or piano ones.
the soothing music of piano were very nice, i had no idea if there were some original compositions of Jay amidst the classical ones played. absolutely worthy of a soundtrack to be released.
The 70s song which Jay used, it created laughters just like whenever Prince Jai, of Curse of the Golden Flower, appears. i think the way the song was first introduced in the movie was rather abrupt, and was unlike the scene in infernal affairs when you hear "是谁,它照亮我窗". sorry, but there's no replica there, even if Vincent Fang and Jay tried hard to achieve this.
pop songs, or rather, younger songs, there's a few. not much attention by me paid to those, except for this song. reason why i paid attention to it was because, it was sang by a girl, not Jay. i had fully expected Jay to be the only voice in the songs i will hear through out the movie. so that came as a surprise.
And the length of the movie is just nice, it didnt end abruptly, not did it attempt to make naggy explanations. the answers were sufficiently provided with space left for the audience to fantasize a little.
So should you watch it? Yes i think so. Why? It really is a nice movie on the whole. It really is a sweet love story. It really is worthy to let you fantasize about first love. It is really a simple and non too artisty small classy movie. It really is not what other Asian films are about. It really is capable of influencing future Asian movies, Asian movies need no longer be about Cops or Action or Violence to sell! Watch because its Jay Chou? that's the last reason on my list.
"Secret 不能说的.秘密" is really one good movie worthy of your ticket this month.
"Secret 不能说的.秘密" opens officially in Singapore on the 8th August 2007. Sneak Previews are available from now till 7th August. Running time: 102min.
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