In 'Secret: Untold Melody,' beloved 2007 Taiwanese music drama transformed for today

Seo You-min (Hive Media Corp.)
Seo You-min (Hive Media Corp.)

For director Seo You-min, the path to directing was not exactly linear.

A film school graduate who started with short films, she spent years in the trenches of Korean cinema as a screenwriter. "I actually majored in directing and spent my early years making short films," she says, speaking in a cafe in Seoul's Samcheong-dong. "As part of my journey to direct my first feature, I worked on various production teams."

That included working under romance virtuoso Hur Jin-ho, whose "Christmas in August" (1998) and "One Fine Spring Day" (2001) defined an era of Korean melodrama. "Hur had this system where all assistant directors were required to write screenplays," Seo recalls. "That's how I fell into screenwriting. Director Hur encouraged me, saying I had a knack for it, but that also meant my directorial debut took longer than expected."

She would go on to write scripts for Hur's romances "April Snow" (2005) and "Happiness" (2007), before branching into period drama with "The Last Princess" (2016).

Most recently, Seo found her way to helming "Secret: Untold Melody," a remake of Jay Chou's 2007 Taiwanese fantasy-romance that carved itself out an unlikely niche in Korean cinema. The original film, "Secret," about young musicians at an elite conservatory, became something of a cultural touchstone for millennials in Korea who grew up watching bootleg downloads in music classrooms.

For Seo, a self-proclaimed superfan who went on a pilgrimage to filming locations across Taiwan, the remake opportunity arrived as an unexpected gift.

"When I heard they were working on a remake, I was already intrigued," she says. "I had no idea that I'd eventually be the one to bring it to life. When I was offered the opportunity, I was absolutely thrilled. It felt like a perfect match."

Her adaptation transposes the story from a high school to a university setting — a choice Seo defends with practical wisdom. "In Korea, high school tends to be dominated by competitive college entrance exams, and that can stifle the atmosphere," she says. "College offers a sense of liberation and excitement, making it a better fit for a love story like this." Her years as a university lecturer, cycling between campuses, directly inspired scenes of the leads on their bikes along lakeside trails.

A scene from
A scene from "Secret: Untold Melody" featuring Won Jin-ah (left) and Doh Kyung-soo (Hive Media Corp)

Where the original brooded in subdued, melancholic grays, Seo's version teems with natural light. She's lightened both the palette and the tone, removing darker subplots about the heroine's illness and bullying.

What results is a remake that pulses with tender, quintessential K-drama moments between the leads — lingering glances, accidental touches, shared bus rides where one falls asleep on the other's shoulder.

"We took out the heavier plotlines from the original," Seo says. "Instead, Jung-ah (Won Jin-ah) is portrayed as more proactive and lively, determined to follow her heart."

The supporting characters receive broader expansion accordingly.

Bae Seong-woo, who plays the professor father of You-jun (Doh Kyung-soo), transforms what was originally an unintentionally villainous role into a source of warmth and laughter. "In Korean romantic films, you'll often find a character who provides comic relief," Seo says. "I thought it would be fun to have that role be You-jun's father, who's supportive and adds moments of humor."

The film's centerpiece piano battle, a sequence that sparked countless imitations even before the days of YouTube and social media, has undergone the most dramatic overhaul. Where the original featured Chopin's "Black Keys" etude — a piece that countless Koreans have tried their hand at — Seo's version incorporates more technically demanding works from Liszt's "La Campanella" to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2.

It is an ambitious choice that strains against lead actor Doh's limited piano experience, leading to disjointed cuts between close-ups of the actor's face and rapid transitions to hand doubles.

A scene from
A scene from "Secret: Untold Melody" featuring Doh Kyung-soo (left) (Hive Media Corp)

"The piano battle scene is iconic," Seo says. "We needed to approach it differently. The music from the original is so well-known that we decided to compose entirely new pieces to surprise the audience. The battle itself was designed as a progression, with each segment building on the previous."

Time travel, central to the film's premise, gets a contemporary polish as well. The sequences abandon the original's conventional blur effects — where surrounding scenery rushes past — for a more stylized approach, with objects floating in suspended animation around the heroine.

"I wanted to move away from the conventional technique of speeding up the background," Seo says. "That approach is very common, especially in Hollywood. Instead, I aimed for something more serene and elegant."

Released over the Lunar New Year holiday alongside established franchise entries "The Priests 2: Dark Nuns" and "Hitman 2," "Secret: Untold Melody" opened modestly with 189,000 tickets sold through the holiday period. Yet over the weekend that followed, it emerged as the most booked film, suggesting growing audience momentum.

"I'd love to explore more genres in the future," Seo says, her eyes lighting up as she looks ahead.

"Comedy is something I really enjoy, so maybe a romantic comedy with a stronger comedic angle. There's so much I want to try."