Title: Ienai Himitsu Secret / 言えない秘密 Secret
Rating: 7 / 10
Recommended for:
Those who like pure love stories set in schools with a tinge of sadness and/or are fans of the leads Kyomoto Taiga and Furukawa Kotone
* Disclaimer: I have not watched the original Taiwanese movie.
* Potential spoilers ahead, proceed with caution!
Liked:
- The refreshing tone of the lead couple's love story (until the secret was revealed) filled with youthful energy peppered with little moments of romantic excitement - this should be something suitable to be watched during the upcoming Valentine's Day. In particular, the scenes where they played the piano together e.g. sitting side by side, hands touching each other's inevitably as they moved across the keys and the lingering gazes into each other's eyes may not be so exciting for Kyomoto's fans but these moments were quite nice to watch from the perspective of an onlooker seeing how a memorable first love developed between the characters.
- The pairing of Kyomoto and Furukawa was better than I initially expected. Not just in terms of appearance compatibility but their onscreen chemistry also made it believable that the couple had fallen deeply in love with each other through the building up of little moments over a relatively short period of time. It also made the anguish and regret unleashed at the end more engaging and moving although the ending was admittedly quite rushed.
Disliked:
- I had no idea what the storyline for the Taiwanese version was until I went to do some research after watching this movie. As such, while I cannot comment on the good and bad things or similarities vs. differences in the original vs. the remake, the Japanese remake may not be so satisfying to those looking for happily-after-ever endings. I personally felt that it was better in this way to make the story seem more realistic and finish on a poignant note.
As for the secret in this story, part of it was too predictable from the start (the sick heroine part) while the fantastical part was a bit too coincidental to be true (just my personal view though). The role of the red toy piano also stood out like a sore thumb. Those who don't like time travel stories might want to give this a miss especially if you don't believe the "coming-and-going-at-will" logic.
- Frankly speaking, anything outside of the lead couple's love story was a bit bland so I sped through those parts at 1.5x speed because they were really draggy. Perhaps it was meant to be like this so that the focus could be on the love story. That inevitably placed the burden of keeping the viewers engaged solely through the efforts of the lead actors so it can feel somewhat underwhelming for people wanting a more "complete package" which provided other elements beside the romance.
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