Your Name Engraved Herein (2020)

OTHER LEVER

I watch this movie cause i heard good criticize but hell no i was not expecting this ...
I knew that its not 'happy light story' but i wanted to see something different
When i start it, i was like 'oh interesting ' but after the time was passing i was slowly more and more addicted to the plot . I lived every s-e-c-o-n-d
◇THE STORY....its unique, its realistic cause life isn't only happy and funny moments, its touched me so much and i fulll agree with everyone who said that its not only a bl movie but a LGBTQ+ movies who everyone must watch it.
◇THE ACTING W-O-W i don't know what to say it was fabulous/amazing /fantastic.
◇EVERYTHING WAS BEAUTIFUL and when i say everything i mean it: from ost to the dialoge between actors-some of them were soooo powerful and the meaning behind it.
If i could rank it > 100/10

~I recommend it if you want something realistic but masterpiece~

(I will never forget you thank you ♡)

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One of the best LGBT movie I've ever watched.

Found this by accident when I looked something to watch in Netflix. Glad I found this.

I used to underestimate Taiwanese movies or dramas, but after I watched this (and Dear Ex), I changed my mind. I would even say this movie is one of the best ROMANCE movie I've ever watched.

I really love the cinematography, the sad-tone of this movie. The chemistry between the leads. I was surprised when I saw their ages and their filmography—they are rookie actors! They acted so well and when it combined with the beautiful scenes and the cinematography, this movie is heavenly.

Very recommended if you need something emotional to watch to cry. The bittersweet ending left me kinda empty and I cried for pretty long time after I finished. Couldn't totally move on from this movie after a week.

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Your Name Engraved Herein was a masterpiece for the ages

Such a beautiful story between two adolescents. The ambiance, the acting, and the pure love between them set the scene nicely as we follow their hearts and actions. Though this was a sad movie to follow as they battle with internal homophobia and oppression, their reunion settles a sweet ending as their young souls finally find peace in their aged bodies, reminiscent of the innocent love they once had.

Definitely a rewatch for me, and also a sob fest!
Much love to all of those with similar stories as Jia-han and Birdy, and to the old bodies with innocent souls. Queer love is never easy (written from a queer person). But those two had bravery and love, even if it failed at some moments

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Don't Watch If You Cry Easily

Maybe I'm scoring this so high because I'm emotional right now, but all I want is an ending where Bridy and Jia-han end up together ㅜㅜ! Though it takes a bit to get me crying, I got misty-eyed for a little with this movie. The soundtrack was great, and the movie was amazing! It was a little hard to follow at times, but when I got confused, it was explained quickly. When Jia-han called Birdy and played him the song through the pay-phone, it was heartbreaking yet so tender. I was often talking to the characters as if they could hear me, and the scene with the old man and Jia-han made the protective older sister in me scream! In the bit where the boys were sitting on the rock together, the narrator says, "We agreed to study for the entrance exam, and then never saw each other again." It had me yelling at my laptop, "No, let them be happy!'. As a Canadian, it was cool to see the ending bits be in Montreal(?)! (Even though I'm from BC). And at the end when Jia-han invites him up for a drink at the place he was staying at and then birdy declines; just heart-shattering. I kept saying, "Don't run away again!". And then when they kept saying 'Goodnight' and I remembered when that other girl had said it meant, I (wo), love (ai), you (ni), love (ai), you (ni), I gasped out loud. The first 15 minutes with Jia-Han's friends beating up that other boy made me pause the movie and say out loud to myself, "I don't know if I'll be able to make it through this." But I did. In 1987 I know it wasn't uncommon for things like that to happen - hell, it probably still happens now - but it still kinda shocked me. I would 100% recommend this movie to people!

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Real. Beautiful. Heartbreaking.

"The tide kept rising. I really hoped this would be the end of the world."

In a time of turmoil and a world that is starting to change, Jia-Han and Birdy start to discover themselves and their feelings for each other. Predominantly based on the director's own experiences, it's a story about love and heartbreak. A story about discovering who you are in a world that doesn't accept it. A story about a first love, that is both heartbreaking and beautiful.

When emotions were running high, what really tied everything together was the music. Titled "Your Name Engraved Herein," just like the movie, it is a beautiful song that is perfectly interwoven into the story.

Before I go, I would like to add a small note about something I read in the director's interview. The director, Liu, whose life the movie is based on, did not play the trumpet like Jia-Han did, he played the flute. They made the change, because "the trumpet has a sound quality of wanting to say something, but not being able to get it out."

I absolutely loved this movie. So watch it and I hope it moves you the way it moved me.

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A realist depiction of gay life end of the 1980ies...

While nowadays so much BL crap is produced, this is a very serious story about how life was for teens at the end of the 80ies. It's especially important because this movie begins when the martial law ended in Taiwan. They discover themselves, they discover how cruel the world is, discover that the end of martial law does not change people over night and also what role the church played against homosexuals.

It's one of the masterpieces Taiwan always produced in the BL-World where the story matters, where the characters matter, where the acting matters and where the production quality, direction and execution matters. All is done so well and all makes sense.

This movie does not have a happy end, so I advise caution before you watch it because it could make you feel terrible, sad or even depressed. Still, it's a masterpiece and leaves a strong impression.

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The movie set in 1987 as martial laws in Taiwan had ended. The movie perfectly captured on how LGBT relationships in the 80's would have looked like. Jia-han and Birdy battling in a homophobic society when at that time not everyone (especially same-sex couple) was allowed to express their love and affection. This is why I felt so attached with them. Their relationship might not always about happy moments, but we got to see their struggle, confusion, and suffering. The acting and the chemistry between them are the strong points of this movie.

As for the plot, some parts felt like out of the place. Especially with the constant jumping between flashbacks and current time during the first and second act. I felt some scenes were being cut, so it resulted for some parts were confusing. For favorite scene, it would be the phone scene. It was phenomenal. I felt hurt. You could felt the pain. The acting between them on this scene was incredible. The music theme was also my favorite thing of this movie. And for the final act? I don't know, from second act to third act was kind of boring, but the execution of the ending was beautiful & bittersweet. It reminded me of the ending of Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together. If you have watched Happy Together, you might know this ending was very similar to it. What is it with Niagra Falls and LGBT-themed movies from either Hongkong or Taiwan??? Not only the ending scene that reminded of Happy Together, but also the cinematography and the color grading. But don't get me wrong, I like both aspects (the cinematography and the color grading) on this movie despite on how similar to Happy Together.

Maybe I will re-watch this again after I read further about Director's story because this movie was based on his real experiences.

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An Instant Classic

Pada tahun 1987 saat kebijakan darurat militer dihapus di Taiwan, 2 Remaja SMA, Chang Jia-han (A-han) dan Wang Bo-Te (Birdy) merasakan jatuh cinta ditengah stigma sosial.

Film ini unggul hampir disemua aspek, pengarahan dan sinematografi yang indah, plot dan dialog yang indah, akting dari kedua tokoh utama yang membuat kita yakin mereka benar benar jatuh cinta, scoring dan soundtrack yang indah membuat film ini Paket lengkap.

Walaupun berfokus pada Suka Duka Cinta Terlarang dua remaja, namun yang ditampilkan dalam film ini adalah sisi emosi yang mampu dialihmediakan oleh Edward Cheng dimana film ini kebanyakan mengambil sudut pandangnya, beberapa scene terbaik menurut saya :
1. Percakapan A-Han dan Padri Olivier
2. Mandi
3. Percakapan di Pantai
4. Telepon
5. Jalan-Jalan Tengah Malam di Quebec

Beberapa adegan yang seharusnya sensual malah tampil sebagai adegan terbaik yang menguras emosi. Penggunaan teknik close up pada Dialog A-Han dan Padri Olivier dan penggunaan tone kuning sangat juara membuat kita fokus pada A-Han dalam berbagi keresahan hatinya, dialog nya pun sangat-sangat alami. Penggunaan terompet dalam mengisi scoring juga bermakna, karena tokoh A-Han memegang instrumen terompet di Marching Band Sekolah.

Selain Edward Cheng, Tseng Ching Hua juga mampu mengimbangi kemampuan akting Cheng sebagai Tokoh Birdy yang slengean, Jejeran pemeran pendukung pun Tampil Apik utamanya Fabio Grangeon dan Leon Dai sebagai A-Han Dewasa.

Akhir kata, film ini menghadirkan kisah cinta terlarang dua remaja dan pendewasaan diri dengan indah dan merobek hati, interaksi kedua pemeran utama membuat kita dengan mudah menaruh hati dan berharap mereka berakhir bahagia.

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The trailer for the film lured me to the highest level of expectation. Despite the fact that the story is quite deep, I was a little less impressed by the overall tone of the film, perhaps due to the slightly scattered processing. Both actors of the characters at a young age were very likeable, and I was impressed by Edward Chen (A-han) as an actor, who I trusted the most. At his young age, A-han lived in Taiwan's gay dark ages, yet he fought for his own feelings and became one of those who lost his own happiness because of it, and that's what I appreciate most about this movie. But it must be said that during that time, Taiwan has taken a big step forward in the tolerance of men who like men...


Trailer k filmu mě navnadil na nejvyšší míru očekávání. Přesto, že příběh je dosti hluboký, celkové vyznění snímku na mě zapůsobilo o trošku méně, možná i kvůli mírné roztěkanosti zpracování. Oba herci postav v mladém věku byli moc sympatičtí a herecky na mě zapůsobil Edward Chen (A-han), kterému jsem nejvíce vše věřil. Ve svém mladém věku žil A-han v taiwanské temné době homosexuálů, přesto bojoval za své vlastní city a stal se jedním z těch, kteří proto přišli o své vlastní štěstí, a to si na tomto filmu cením nejvíce. Nutno ale říci, že Taiwan za tu dobu udělal velký krok kupředu v toleranci mužů, co mají rádi muže...

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Lingering Regrets

Well, that was depressing.
So how do you differentiate BL from queer art? Because...I see people refer to LGBT films and shows from Asia as BL as if the type of queerness is different from Western ones?! That's a bit weird. Gay is gay everywhere, no?!
Anyway, this is a story of sexual awakening in a crappy era in Taiwan and it's appropriately heartbreaking. You can't really expect all daisies and roses from an era where political and social upheaval are piled on top of dominant prejudices. It's not a cute, fluffy story. So the plot and the characters' characterization are appropriately bleak and raw. It's tragic and heartbreaking, not just due to the circumstances but also because of the regrettable choices made by the characters that make life even harder for them. Then, it is no one's doing but theirs.
I enjoyed this but the experience is bittersweet as the implications of the timeline and the story speak of lost time, irreversible mistakes, and regrets that haunt the characters 30 years into the future. But it's done very well so it feels satisfying to watch the story develop.
That said, I did not love the movie from start to finish. I found the conversation scenes with the priest to be stilted and unnatural. They felt too much like preaching and it made the whole thing awkward. I also disliked the flash-forward in the end; not because of the positive or negative ending but because it felt like over-explanation in a way that was not very graceful. There seemed to be too much conversation. Or the camera was following where it was not meant to go? I don't know, it just didn't feel connected to the rest of the film. It felt like a totally different movie and while I liked the atmosphere and aesthetic of the past (not just visually but the cinematography and the direction choices too) the modern bit felt like your run-of-the-mill indie film...I just didn't like it. It felt like there was a break in the film's flow. Maybe if they had maintained the vibes, I would have liked it better.
The acting...well, actually I watched this because I liked Tseng Jing Hua in a different project and came here for that so I knew the acting was going to be good. But the rest of the cast was great too. I really liked Edward Chen. They kind of break your heart throughout the film.
Music is a big part of this film and so they paid special attention to it. It pays off.
Would I rewatch? I would rather not, to be honest. I hate stories about regret the most. They make me so anxious. So once is enough!
Overall: I guess you can watch it if you don't mind a little heartbreak. It's not a feel-good film but it's also not high-art...still, I think it's worth a watch, for sure. The quality is genuinely high, the story is touching and the acting is moving. You wouldn't feel like you wasted your time. It will be well-spent watching this.
P.S.: A bit of an unrelated tangent but this movie just proved to me once more that with proper crew and budget, Taiwan can save us from certain bad adaptations and censored content...just putting it out there.

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Indeed, your name is engraved deep within

why am I crying?
Oh, such a sad but bittersweet end.
Would definitely rewatch it in far future (if im alive).
This film was a good memory.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... BIG SHOUTOUT TO THE ACTORS, DIRECTORS, PRODUCERS & TEAM.

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