I Am the Secret in Your Heart (2024)

Summer Lemongrass

I watched this movie at the 2024 Busan International Film Festival.
After the screening, there was a guest session where the director, writer, and lead actors discussed the movie with the audience.

Overall, it's a youth romance movie, so the plot is fairly common—or I should say, very common.
However, the execution of the entire movie wasn’t bad. I liked it.

What I liked:
1. The male and female characters were portrayed as 'normal' high school students, without any over-the-top actions, childish voices, or exaggerated coolness.
2. The male and female leads spoke multiple languages—Taiwanese, English, Spanish, and French—throughout the movie. They’re polyglots, which made me envious!
3. The second male lead was also portrayed as a good character. His moment begging the vet to open the clinic to help the dog of the man the girl he loves cares about was his golden moment. He’s also talented in music.
4. The difficulty of long-distance relationships was realistically portrayed. They drifted apart slowly, breaking up without explicitly saying it.
5. In the reconciliation scene, some people might disapprove of the male lead’s actions, like saying the kiss was without consent, but I support it. His third wish came true. Sometimes, you don’t need explanations—actions can clear the grey areas.
6. The ending was cute.

What I disliked:
1. The title 'I Am the Secret in Your Heart' doesn’t seem fitting. 'Lemongrass of Our Youth' would be better. The English title doesn’t reflect the core of the story. Even by the end, the female lead didn’t know she was the male lead’s childhood friend. Or maybe the title implies that some secrets should remain secrets.
2. The movie’s focus on high school and college/work phases was roughly 2:1, which felt a bit unbalanced. Wanna see more of college-work era.

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disappointing love story

I rarely have second lead syndrome, but this one hit the hardest. I went into this expecting for her to choose the best friend just for her to end up with the new classmate. I didn't really feel the chemistry and the ending was pretty weird but very predictable. Aside from that, a lot of the story has been swept under the rug for their romance - like what happened to the girl from the band after, what about the best friend, is he okay? also how was life in america for the main guy? just a lot of jumps. Overall, this movie has great quality but would not recommend watching it.

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