Danielle Yen Your Name Engraved Herein (Chinese: 刻在你心底的名字; pinyin: Kē zài nǐ xīndǐ de míngzì; lit.
'The name engraved in your heart') is a 2020 Taiwanese romantic drama film directed by Patrick Kuang-Hui Liu and starring Edward Chen, Jing-Hua Tseng, and Leon Dai.
The two boys take a trip to Taipei—ostensibly to mourn the death of President Chiang Ching-kuo—and grow closer through their adventures in the capital.
The introduction of co-educational schooling adds a wrinkle to their relationship, as the arrival of female students irrevocably transforms classroom dynamics.
Repeated incidents of conflict and reconciliation draw the pair together and break them apart, before fate finally takes them in different directions.
Chang Jia-han (Edward Chen), known as A-han, meets school priest and band leader Father Oliver (Fabio Grangeon) to discuss a recent fight.
Set in Taiwan as martial law ends in 1987, Wang Po Te (Tseng Jing-Hua), nicknamed Birdy, transfers to A-han's all-boys Catholic high school.
While waiting for Birdy, A-han witnesses his friend Horn and his group bullying and assaulting a homosexual student.
As A-han and Birdy hide in a shower stall, the bullies attempt to humiliate the student by threatening him with a lighter.
After the death of President Chiang Ching-kuo is announced, Birdy and A-han travel to Taipei to mourn on behalf of their school, and the two grow closer during their time in the capital.
They sneak into a projection booth, where Birdy shares his dream of becoming a filmmaker and asks A-han to attend film school with him in Taipei.
When the new school semester begins, the introduction of co-education alters the dynamics, though strict rules still govern interaction between the sexes.
A female student, Wu Ruo-fei, nick-named Ban-ban, stands up to a school official, and Birdy supports her, sparking mutual interest between them.
After facing increasing accusations of homosexuality and ridicule for performing an effeminate song at a military competition, Birdy finds comfort in Ban-ban's company, and as they become closer, A-han becomes jealous.
They share an emotional, intimate moment filled with conflicting feelings of love, pain, shame, and desire.
Birdy moves away to focus on his university exams, and A-han calls him one last time to confess his love, playing the song Your Name Engraved Herein by Crowd Lu.
Years later, a middle-aged A-han attends his school's marching band reunion, hoping to see Birdy again but without success.
[3] The theme song Your Name Engraved Herein, performed by singer Crowd Lu and lead actor Edward Chen, was composed by Malaysian songwriters Keon Chia (Chia Wang) and Dr. Hooi Yuan Teng (Hsu Yuan-Ting), and Singaporean lawyer Tan Boon Wah (Chen Wen-Hua).
Teo Bugbee of The New York Times reviewed the film, stating, "The director, Patrick Liu, has an eye for the way that physical desire manifests itself: the gestures of affection, the postures of people pretending not to acknowledge each other.
Though the movie could coast on the appeal of handsome faces and stolen trips to Taipei, Liu gives texture to their pretty pining.
However, Teng finds that the "heartfelt romantic storyline" is confused when "the last act of the film inexplicably fast-forwards the timeline by 30 years and transports the characters, now adult and played by Leon Dai and Jason Wang, to a current-day setting in Quebec City on the pretext of them attending the funeral of their former teacher, Father Oliver.