Amidst my busy work in school and household chores, I managed to catch Jay Chou's latest work, Secret - 不能说的秘密. Yes, despite all the time constraints and being confined and isolated down under, I managed to watch this movie. But, please don't ask me where and how I managed to. *chuckles*

[Note: Pictures from moviexclusive.com]

I shall give my short review about this movie... though I like Jay's music, I didn't think much of his performance in movies (Initial D and Curse of the Golden Flower); it was only barely passable in both of his previous works and so I really didn't get why he could have won the Golden Horse Award. Haha... I will try my best to not post any spoilers here!

The story basically revolves around two high school music students, 叶湘伦 (Jay Chou) and 路小雨 (桂纶美). At the first day of school, 小伦 meets 小雨 by coincidence in an old school building with a history of 100 years. From then, romance between them develops. And like most romance films, there will always be a 'third party' and the love between these two love-birds are jeopardized.

However, unlike most romance films, because of its sheer title, there's a tinge of suspense at the first half of the movie. For suspense/thriller lovers like me, one can't help but keep speculating the ending of the movie. Haha...
I would say that his first attempt of acting and directing a movie at the same time was decent and commendable job; though it was quite lackluster in some ways. The story, on the whole, which by the way was written by Jay Chou himself, was good. However, if one was to look further, you'll be quite disappointed that the story does lack some depth in it, and the whole film barely manages to come together as a whole. And more importantly, the story seemed to have 'borrowed' quite a bit of ideas from a few movies; which then left the ending rather... not too well done.

The first 3/4 of the movie had emphasized quite a bit of the development of the relationship between the two students and I found certain scenes quite 'unnecessary'. And towards the ending of the film, although I do love movies with ending that leaves the audience writing their own ending, this was certainly a movie that kind of ended abruptly. I would think that if Jay had cut a bit in the front part and did more at the back would the movie have been better.

Also, the setting of the movie was rather confusing. It was only until the later part that I realised that the film was set in 1999. YET, all the props and scene kind of didn't seem convincingly 1999; it felt 70s 80s-ish, and there were quite a lot of discrepancy between the props... like the appearance of the Nakamichi player in an old record shop. Haha...

However, that aside, the casting was certainly a good one. The main actress, though not as beautiful as the co-actress, did a great job as 路小雨. I enjoyed her performance throughout the movie and she certainly plays her character with much conviction and secrecy. Also, she's very sweet at certain angles! You'll find her quite familiar as she's acted in quite a number of music videos in Taiwan.

But I think the 'stealer' of the show has got to be Anthony Huang 黄秋生! Once again, playing the Dad of Jay Chou, in almost every scene that he appears, he just simply stole the limelight aways from all the other characters. I simply just love his appearance! Haha... His funny gimmicks and convincingly acting as 小伦's Dad is just something to look forward to in this movie.

As for Jay Chou... well... I would say there was some improvement in his acting; at least he speaks much more than in his previous two movies. But, it still lacked the quality and standards. Unless you're his fan, I seriously think his acting is still... amateurish. *oops! no offence!*

And finally, what made me love this movie, and made this movie come all together and allowing Jay Chou to really pull it off, is the music. I admit... I love the music in this movie and I will have no doubts in buying the OST.

Each memorable scene of the movie is accompanied by music well written and performed according to the characters and atmosphere. Such as the the couple riding on the same bicycle; the duet by the couple; the scene where they both were caught in the rain; the funny gimmicks of his friends 阿宝 and 阿良; the tango scene of the dad and son (which I simply loved! So hilarious!); dinner scene of the dad and son.. even simple and short snippets where Jay was just casually playing the piano while delivering his lines, were just... marvelous.

And the 'cheesy' scene of the piano battle between 叶湘伦 and 宇豪 (From 南拳妈妈）was certainly an eye opener. Although Jay was supposedly the 'cooler' one who was able to play whatever pieces thrown at him, I felt that Yu Hao's performance to be much more charming and classically presented. *shrugs*

Hence, I would recommend this movie.... a 3.5/5 stars. Just take it as a romance movie and most importantly, don't think. Cause when you start thinking about the movie, it kind of start to fall apart. Haha... Enjoy!

Amidst my busy work in school and household chores, I managed to catch Jay Chou's latest work, Secret - 不能说的秘密. Yes, despite all the time constraints and being confined and isolated down under, I managed to watch this movie. But, please don't ask me where and how I managed to. *chuckles*

[Note: Pictures from moviexclusive.com]

I shall give my short review about this movie... though I like Jay's music, I didn't think much of his performance in movies (Initial D and Curse of the Golden Flower); it was only barely passable in both of his previous works and so I really didn't get why he could have won the Golden Horse Award. Haha... I will try my best to not post any spoilers here!

The story basically revolves around two high school music students, 叶湘伦 (Jay Chou) and 路小雨 (桂纶美). At the first day of school, 小伦 meets 小雨 by coincidence in an old school building with a history of 100 years. From then, romance between them develops. And like most romance films, there will always be a 'third party' and the love between these two love-birds are jeopardized.

However, unlike most romance films, because of its sheer title, there's a tinge of suspense at the first half of the movie. For suspense/thriller lovers like me, one can't help but keep speculating the ending of the movie. Haha...
I would say that his first attempt of acting and directing a movie at the same time was decent and commendable job; though it was quite lackluster in some ways. The story, on the whole, which by the way was written by Jay Chou himself, was good. However, if one was to look further, you'll be quite disappointed that the story does lack some depth in it, and the whole film barely manages to come together as a whole. And more importantly, the story seemed to have 'borrowed' quite a bit of ideas from a few movies; which then left the ending rather... not too well done.

The first 3/4 of the movie had emphasized quite a bit of the development of the relationship between the two students and I found certain scenes quite 'unnecessary'. And towards the ending of the film, although I do love movies with ending that leaves the audience writing their own ending, this was certainly a movie that kind of ended abruptly. I would think that if Jay had cut a bit in the front part and did more at the back would the movie have been better.

Also, the setting of the movie was rather confusing. It was only until the later part that I realised that the film was set in 1999. YET, all the props and scene kind of didn't seem convincingly 1999; it felt 70s 80s-ish, and there were quite a lot of discrepancy between the props... like the appearance of the Nakamichi player in an old record shop. Haha...

However, that aside, the casting was certainly a good one. The main actress, though not as beautiful as the co-actress, did a great job as 路小雨. I enjoyed her performance throughout the movie and she certainly plays her character with much conviction and secrecy. Also, she's very sweet at certain angles! You'll find her quite familiar as she's acted in quite a number of music videos in Taiwan.

But I think the 'stealer' of the show has got to be Anthony Huang 黄秋生! Once again, playing the Dad of Jay Chou, in almost every scene that he appears, he just simply stole the limelight aways from all the other characters. I simply just love his appearance! Haha... His funny gimmicks and convincingly acting as 小伦's Dad is just something to look forward to in this movie.

As for Jay Chou... well... I would say there was some improvement in his acting; at least he speaks much more than in his previous two movies. But, it still lacked the quality and standards. Unless you're his fan, I seriously think his acting is still... amateurish. *oops! no offence!*

And finally, what made me love this movie, and made this movie come all together and allowing Jay Chou to really pull it off, is the music. I admit... I love the music in this movie and I will have no doubts in buying the OST.

Each memorable scene of the movie is accompanied by music well written and performed according to the characters and atmosphere. Such as the the couple riding on the same bicycle; the duet by the couple; the scene where they both were caught in the rain; the funny gimmicks of his friends 阿宝 and 阿良; the tango scene of the dad and son (which I simply loved! So hilarious!); dinner scene of the dad and son.. even simple and short snippets where Jay was just casually playing the piano while delivering his lines, were just... marvelous.

And the 'cheesy' scene of the piano battle between 叶湘伦 and 宇豪 (From 南拳妈妈）was certainly an eye opener. Although Jay was supposedly the 'cooler' one who was able to play whatever pieces thrown at him, I felt that Yu Hao's performance to be much more charming and classically presented. *shrugs*

Hence, I would recommend this movie.... a 3.5/5 stars. Just take it as a romance movie and most importantly, don't think. Cause when you start thinking about the movie, it kind of start to fall apart. Haha... Enjoy!