Secret (Taiwanese Movie 2007)

Secret (Taiwanese Movie 2007)

IT DOESN’T MATTER IF WE WILL MEET AGAIN. IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU WILL REMEMBER ME. I JUST WANT TO TELL YOU A SECRET. I LOVE YOU.

Cast:

Jay Chou as Yie Xiang Lun / Jay

Kwai Lun-Mei as Lu Xiao Yu / Rain

Alice Tzeng as Ching Yi / Sky

Anthony Wong as Jay’s father

Plot Summary (Can also be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/)

The film opens on Sky giving a tour of the school to Jay. Jay just moves to the school saying that it has the best music class. Jay is a pianist. Sky then leaves him to venture the school alone. At this time Jay hear someone playing a piano and follow the music. Jay then meets with Rain. Rain is also a pianist. All three study in the same class. But, Rain is always late for classes and sometime did not come at all. This make Jay wonder why but Rain refuse to tell him, saying it is a secret. Around this time, Jay already befriend with Bao and Lang, whom you can say the school’s black sheep.

After a few days at school, Jay dares the school Prince of the Piano, Yu Hao, for a piano dueling competition. Nobody actually wins as they both are equally talented. How ever, as promise, Yu Hao gives Jay a music sheets that is hard to find.

Jay and Rain relationship evolve into a romantic one. But, at this point both of them are still surrounded with the mystery aura. At first I thought Rain is a fragment of Jay imagination. But seeing Rain talking to Sky during the dueling piano competition makes me wonder whether Rain is actually real or not.

Jay and Rain were playing the piano as a duo. Suddenly they stop after hearing footsteps. The music teacher has heard them. He enters the music room only to find Jay alone in front of the piano. He asks Jay how Jay can play a duo alone. Jay only answers him maybe he played too fast. Rain is actually hiding in the closet. The teacher opens the closet and says nothing. He left the room. Jay is curious as why the teacher didn’t say anything. Rain only answers are that the teacher sympathize her for being a low grade students.

It is then revealed to us Jay’s secret. One of the teacher (disciplinary teacher I presume), is Jay’s father. He keeps insisting that Jay listen to music and not has silly thoughts.

Jay relationship with Rain develops into a romantic one. They share a kiss once. Jay also finds out that Rain has asthma. As a token of Jay’s love to Rain, he gives the music sheets he won in the piano dueling competition called the Swan Lake. Rain also teaches Jay the music Jay heard during the first time he met her.

Jay makes an appointment to meet Rain at the music room at 7pm. While playing the piano with eyes shut, someone enter the room. Jay simply makes a move telling that person to kiss him. It is Sky who enters the room and kisses him. Jay is shock and run out from the room only to hear Da Yong, the retarded janitor, shouting that Rain has run away feeling angry.

Rain never goes to school anymore. Every day after school, Jay will go to the house he once sends Rain to. There is an old lady living in that house. The old lady simply answers him that Rain asthma is getting worse and she have to drop school to rest.

Five months have past since Jay last saw Rain. He continues with his live as usual but sometimes imagining that Rain is by his side playing duo with him. He is getting closer with Sky but without the romantic feelings.

On graduation day, Jay plays the piano. He suddenly sees Rain standing at the far back of the hall. Rain starts to leave. Jay, without second thoughts, stops playing and run after Rain. What a shock to everyone!

Jay went to the classroom only to find Bao and Lang stealing from the student’s private locker. He asks them if they sees a girl, the one that dance with him during the School Dance. They tell him that he was dancing alone. At this moment, Jay realizes that Rain is not real. All this while, he was communicating with either himself or Sky (imagining that she is Rain).

While sitting alone in the classroom thinking of what he just discovers, a sentence (in liquid paper) appears on Rain’s table. It is Rain. He answers back also with writing on the table using liquid paper. This is when the weird part truly starts.

He goes to Rain house and the old lady (Rain’s mother), ask him to come inside. Rain is not there. Jay found a music manuscripts but Rain’s mother grabs it from him. She then found a drawing of Jay’s portrait among the music manuscripts and says she should have trust her daughter. Rain’s mother gives Jay a photo of Rain and his father during his much younger age.

It was 1979. Rain was a 3^rd year student. She dropped her inhaler under a piano. While grabbing for it, she found music manuscripts hidden at the bottom of the piano. She started to play the music. While playing, her surrounding is evolving into the future. After she stops playing, she smiles realizing what have happen. While hiding the music manuscripts, it was the time she first met Jay.  Jay however is living in 1997. By logic, they are actually almost 20 years apart. So, the logical answer is that, Rain travel into the future while playing the music manuscripts.

In 1979, Rain discusses this with her teacher. It is Jay’s father at a much younger age of course. Jay’s father and Rain’s mother are worried that Rain might be having some mental problems. So, Jay’s father asks one of the students to look out for Rain. But this student turns out to be evil. She spread Rain’s story to the entire school. Rain stops going to school. Her mother simply blames her late father for everything. Rain decided to eat the pills from the psychiatrist’s clinic to sooth her mother.

During her graduation day in 1979, Rain decided to play the music manuscript again. Slowly her body disappears and appears in the future during Jay’s graduation day. This is the time where Jay saw Rain and start running after her. Remember?! Rain see Jay is wearing the bracelet that belongs to Sky and make her own assumption. While Jay follow his father back to the hall, Rain went to the music room and starts playing the music manuscript again. This time we see everything around her evolve back to the past. Rain goes to her classroom and writes on her table using liquid paper. Remember?! At this point, Rain died because of asthma attack.

Rain once tell Jay not to play the music she taught him using the old piano. So all the while, Jay’s been playing it using the modern piano. Realizing that the old piano and the music is the key to travel trough time, Jay goes back to school. The building is already being prepared to be demolished as reconstruction is going to take place during the school break. Jay manages to reach the music room and starts playing the music. At the same time, Jay’s father opens the music manuscript given to him by Rain. At this point he realized that the boy Rain meet in the future is actually his son Jay. He ran towards the school. The building is already being demolished.

Jay manages in time to reaches the past before the entire building is destroyed. He met Rain in a classroom. At this point I realized that Jay went further to the past at the point where Rain did not even meet him yet.

Review

The music teacher did not see Rain in the closet. He just saw the writing that Bao and Lang wrote.

The old lady (Rain’s mother), simply misses Rain so much that she say Rain is upstairs resting.

I don’t think Jay can ever go back to 1997 as the old piano is destroyed. As he was not born yet during 1979, I guess he can exist at that time. Rain however will be around 38 years old in 1997. Two of the same people cannot exist at the same time right? Maybe that is why no one else can see her.

From the reviews I read, I find out that this film is almost similar to 6^th Sense starred Bruce Willis. So, all the while watching this film, I keep on guessing who the ghost is. A lot of reviewers insist that Jay is the ghost but they cannot understand the reason everyone else can see him. But for the first third quarter of this film, I realize that it is not Jay but Rain is the ghost in this film.

The piano score in this film is superb. I watch this film for three reasons, Jay Chou, piano and mystery. Jay Chou in his cool way should release his muscle and act more romantically. The first quarter of the film only show his affections towards Rain and vice versa. Why didn’t he just kiss her or at least hold her hand?

He finally kisses to girls - Rain and Sky. His relationship with his father is the best. Just like their relationship in Initial D. But this time Anthony Wong is a little bit crazier. Jay’s two friends, Bao and Lang, are crazy in their own way. They try to help him but sometimes turn out to be annoying.

I guess it is not that hard to understand this film.

Add on 21st Jan 2011

When Rain travels into the future, the concept is that the first person she sees, can see her back. That is why she closed her eyes and counts her step to reach Jay’s classroom. She wants Jay to be the first person she sees. But, she is not lucky all the time. Sometimes, she sees Sky first. That is why we can see Rain talked with Sky during the piano dueling. Same goes to the janitor. If he is the first person that Rain sees, then he can sees her also.