Secret Response Leslie Wangxiaoqi Sun
Online response – Secret
CHIN 360 Introduction to Chinese Cinema
Leslie Wangxiaoqi Sun
2014/11/30
Knowing the ending and watching Secret for the second time, I can see that many small details in the first half of the movie imply and coordinate with the second half after Lu Xiaoyu reveals her secret. I’m amazed by the way plots are arranged. In this response, I’ll analyze how director Chou laid groundwork and foreshadowed in this movie.
The piano building is one of the important props in the movie. At the very beginning, when Qingyi is tour guiding Ye Xianglun around campus, she mentioned that the piano building will be torn down after the graduation ceremony. This lays the groundwork for the ending plot of Ye’s death. He dies in the building in the present world but is reborn in the past. Lu Xiaoyu is told about the future destruction of the piano by Ye. This plot setting leads to the decision of Lu teaching Ye the secret song. It also foreshadowed the scene in which Ye is playing the song as the building is being torn down. In the end, Ye goes back to the past when Lu hasn’t met him. Viewers may think that the two worlds are parallel. Apparently, it’s not; otherwise, when Ye Xianglun goes back, Lu Xiaoyu should be dead. The hint is given in the movie. When Lu is teaching Ye the secret song, she said “I played at that speed when I go back”. At the end of the movie, Ye played the song way faster than Lu’s speed because the building is being destroyed, which explains why he can go back further to the point when they hasn’t met each other.
Director Chou foreshadowed the answer before the revelation of the secret and played viewers’ mind through plot settings. Lu Xiaoyu shows a facial expression of surprising when she sees the headmaster punishing the two rugby players in the school playground. She made a sound of “Ei?” which also coordinates with her facial expression. But it doesn’t make sense for the viewers, because why a student would be surprised to see the
CHIN 360 Introduction to Chinese Cinema
Leslie Wangxiaoqi Sun
2014/11/30
Knowing the ending and watching Secret for the second time, I can see that many small details in the first half of the movie imply and coordinate with the second half after Lu Xiaoyu reveals her secret. I’m amazed by the way plots are arranged. In this response, I’ll analyze how director Chou laid groundwork and foreshadowed in this movie.
The piano building is one of the important props in the movie. At the very beginning, when Qingyi is tour guiding Ye Xianglun around campus, she mentioned that the piano building will be torn down after the graduation ceremony. This lays the groundwork for the ending plot of Ye’s death. He dies in the building in the present world but is reborn in the past. Lu Xiaoyu is told about the future destruction of the piano by Ye. This plot setting leads to the decision of Lu teaching Ye the secret song. It also foreshadowed the scene in which Ye is playing the song as the building is being torn down. In the end, Ye goes back to the past when Lu hasn’t met him. Viewers may think that the two worlds are parallel. Apparently, it’s not; otherwise, when Ye Xianglun goes back, Lu Xiaoyu should be dead. The hint is given in the movie. When Lu is teaching Ye the secret song, she said “I played at that speed when I go back”. At the end of the movie, Ye played the song way faster than Lu’s speed because the building is being destroyed, which explains why he can go back further to the point when they hasn’t met each other.
Director Chou foreshadowed the answer before the revelation of the secret and played viewers’ mind through plot settings. Lu Xiaoyu shows a facial expression of surprising when she sees the headmaster punishing the two rugby players in the school playground. She made a sound of “Ei?” which also coordinates with her facial expression. But it doesn’t make sense for the viewers, because why a student would be surprised to see the