Your Name Engraved Herein (2020)

Your Name Engraved Herein feels special because it turns a first love story into something larger: a tender, aching portrait of two boys trying to name their feelings in a Taiwan just beginning to breathe after martial law, while society still tightens the knot. Liu Kuang-Hui directs with a patient, intimate eye, letting Edward Chen and Tseng Jing-Hua’s chemistry do the heavy lifting—glances linger, silences speak, and the sensual cinematography makes memory feel almost touchable. The film’s vibe is romantic and bittersweet rather than melodramatic, building an emotional tide that sneaks up on you and then refuses to let go. It isn’t a light watch—bullying, violence, and the weight of homophobia are part of the world here—but if you’re on the fence, know that its honesty and heart are exactly what make it so quietly devastating and so worth seeing.

Your Name Engraved Herein is aiming for a tender, aching coming-of-age romance set against a Taiwan that’s just starting to loosen its grip, and at its best it captures that mix of first love and fear with real sincerity. The two leads are genuinely compelling, and the film has an emotional honesty that can hit hard if you’re in the mood for yearning and heartbreak. But be warned: the storytelling can feel uneven, with pacing that drifts and a late, abrupt time jump that may leave you feeling like the movie skips the very closure it’s been building toward. If you need tight plotting or a clean, satisfying ending rather than a melancholic “life got in the way” vibe, this one may frustrate you more than it moves you.