IN BRIEF: A gay love story that plays it safer than it should.
JIM'S REVIEW: (MILDLY RECOMMENDED) Martial law ended in Taiwan in 1987, but two high school students still have a rough go in this coming-out coming-of-age tale, Your Name Engraved Herein, the highest-grossing LGBTQ film ever released in that country. The love that dare not speak its name still doesn't as the film takes an excruciatingly long time to build the gay relationship between Chaig Jia-han (A-han) and Wang Bo-De (Birdy). I'm not sure if there is a cultural bias about homosexuality by the filmmakers, weak direction, or the fault of a languishing screenplay by Yu Ning Chu that dissipates the film's dramatic impact.
Except for a steamy encounter in a shower room that finally consummates the sexual bonding between the two teenagers later in the film, the relationship is more bromance than romance. Kuang-Hui Liu directs the movie with some style. But he purposely downplays the gayness issue and allows scenes to go on too long when judicious editing would have corrected the film's pacing issues.
As the conflicted A-han, Edward Chen covers a wide emotional range and he is very good in the role. Jing-Hua Tseng is fine as his immature boyfriend, although, as written, the character is a tad off-putting. Giving fine support are Fabio Grangeon as A-han's Father Confessor and Leon Dai as the older A-han.
While the film has some serious flaws in its storytelling, the film's ending does have a bittersweet vibe that makes the moviegoing experience worth viewing. (GRADE: C+)
JIM'S REVIEW: (MILDLY RECOMMENDED) Martial law ended in Taiwan in 1987, but two high school students still have a rough go in this coming-out coming-of-age tale, Your Name Engraved Herein, the highest-grossing LGBTQ film ever released in that country. The love that dare not speak its name still doesn't as the film takes an excruciatingly long time to build the gay relationship between Chaig Jia-han (A-han) and Wang Bo-De (Birdy). I'm not sure if there is a cultural bias about homosexuality by the filmmakers, weak direction, or the fault of a languishing screenplay by Yu Ning Chu that dissipates the film's dramatic impact.
Except for a steamy encounter in a shower room that finally consummates the sexual bonding between the two teenagers later in the film, the relationship is more bromance than romance. Kuang-Hui Liu directs the movie with some style. But he purposely downplays the gayness issue and allows scenes to go on too long when judicious editing would have corrected the film's pacing issues.
As the conflicted A-han, Edward Chen covers a wide emotional range and he is very good in the role. Jing-Hua Tseng is fine as his immature boyfriend, although, as written, the character is a tad off-putting. Giving fine support are Fabio Grangeon as A-han's Father Confessor and Leon Dai as the older A-han.
While the film has some serious flaws in its storytelling, the film's ending does have a bittersweet vibe that makes the moviegoing experience worth viewing. (GRADE: C+)