Completed
jiritwist
0 people found this review helpful
Nov 1, 2023
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 8.5
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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Completed
Owais Noe
0 people found this review helpful
20 days ago
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

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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Completed
koo
0 people found this review helpful
Jan 7, 2024
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 10
Rewatch Value 6.5
This review may contain spoilers

Gay people having a sad story once again

Coming into this film I knew that it’s not going to be some wholesome movie where two gay guys fall for each other and live a happy life. So a story between these two ensues and it’s extremely sad, and it delivers it well!

Though I was confused sometimes if Birdy was gay at all or not, he just seemed to be a lil too comfortable with his friends (it’s confirmed he’s gay later though).

The movie wasn’t anything special in my opinion, I’ve seen plenty stories where two guys are in an environment where they can’t be who they are so an angsty romance story starts between them.

However the movie is really beautiful and well done in showing their love story. The one thing I liked most is how music is what connected them most and their song in the movie is actually the title of the movie (or just a lyric i’m not sure) but the song is beautiful and i’m definitely adding it to my spotify playlist.

I also appreciate how they made a timeskip and made their older versions reunite, it makes me hope that they continued their love- maybe not since they were hesitant with each other but I think in the end they did try again. Love never expires and i’m sure both of them were waiting to find each other again even after all the years that passed.

Anyway the story is really beautiful, I unfortunately have a very short time span so I kept pausing and stopping the movie which led me to finish it in 2 days so I couldn’t exactly bond with the characters on the level where I would cry on their sad scenes but watching the sad scenes I kept thinking to myself how hard I would cry if only I had connected to them better. Their sad scenes really do tug on your heartstrings.

So sad how love in different forms isn’t accepted. Beautiful film.

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Completed
luvmybabes
0 people found this review helpful
Oct 2, 2023
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 10

It's just beautiful

Love the storyline, love how it's presented, acting is great, camera work is even better and the chemistry between the main characters is very unique but I gotta add one more thing: the lack of all the "beauty filters" in this series is just beautiful and you don't get to see it in many series (especially these days) which is upsetting. So glad I found this one cause I just started getting tired of all those "sugary sweet" looking series with heavy filters on them so that that the actors look "cuter".. idk it's just nice to see some skin texture, you know? not anime like glossy blurry skin ?

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Completed
TamzinMillemni
0 people found this review helpful
Oct 24, 2023
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 9.5

Beautiful Bittersweet

This one was such a beautifully heartbreaking story. The only criticism I would level at it is that with the ending reunion scene you don’t leave feeling as hopeful as you should. You can’t get away from the feeling that they lost something that they can never get back - the feeling of what might have been. The regret slightly overshadows everything and you leave feeling more bitter than sweet. It’s for this reason I cannot give it a 10/10. It’s a blemish on an otherwise magnificent bl. Like ITSAY, this series can stand up against any mainstream production. It’s another cinematic masterpiece. The young actors are able to convey so much - the angst, the fear, not knowing what you feel, not wanting to accept what you feel, the burden and expectations, the flawed thinking of youth, the unfairness of the world, and the loss of something precious that can never be re-attained. If I could sum this series up into one phrase, it would be ‘an exhaled sigh’.

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Completed
Kiki
0 people found this review helpful
Oct 10, 2023
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 9.0

MY HEART

I don't know whether to start sobbing or not. This movie was so heartbreaking and bittersweet. ?

It being based on a true story/true events hit me even harder. My heart truly breaks for everyone in the closet and for everyone who never got to experience acceptance and change in their lifetime.

Times may have changed, but for some places and cultures this is still very much a reality. My heart simply hurts so much for every member of the LGBT+ community and the struggles faced.

Thankfully this movie's ending was so sweet and optimistic. This is a must see, but grab your tissues!

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Completed
Lunaticsoul
0 people found this review helpful
Nov 1, 2023
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 8.5

A beautiful representation of life, the good and the bad...

I was not expecting this movie to slap this hard, i was taken in since the first scene.
It depicts the struggle, the pain and the need to understand one's emotions, in a way that makes you engaged with each dialogue, questioning how life can be this unfair while all you're asking is for your love to be acknowledged and respected...
The lead actors, made every scene come to life, each and every emotion was shown through their eyes, expressions and actions...
It hurts watching this movie but in a beautiful way.
I highly recommend watching it.
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Completed
eled420
0 people found this review helpful
Jan 10, 2024
Completed 0
Overall 6.5
Story 4.5
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

Painful coming-of-age with frustrating characters

I found this film to be effectively frustrating. Going into this film with the mindset that it's less of a BL and more of a tragic/wistful nostalgic exploration of young boyish teenhood and the rampant ways toxic masculinity and ideas of what is 'normal' and/or 'acceptable' have stifled generations upon generations of queer(?) or potentially bicurious young men will help the viewer understand more about what this movie attempts but it's not made clear from the get-go.

The dynamic between Birdy and Jia-Han is always changing and hard to pin down in any reasonable way. Jia-Han is introduced as the more stoic, less outwardly queer individual who, for the first half, is made to seem by his peers as being under the influence of Birdy and that Birdy would 'gay' Jia-Han. Then this dynamic flips when Birdy actually flips the script and finds a girlfriend in Banban and then becomes very cold, almost as if he's an entirely different character. All of this happens in a en media res narrative structure where Jia-Han is in a violent distress that we aren't sure what the cause of is until we get there in the movie. There are moments of sweetness layered between a lot of meandering and almost schizophrenic scenes of the two boys clashing. Even the shower scene, which should've been the peak of the tension between the two, felt incredibly muted and stifling, although if you stick out to the end I guess that might've been the point but it still feels very unsatisfactory. This ambiguity then gets funneled into a far neater ending where we presume they just went on with their lives and then confess to each other in a painless way but they've already lived their lives and there's nothing to be done. Did anything even need to be done?

What I needed from this film was more structure, more of a sense of belonging to a certain place and more worldbuilding. Everything felt very disparate and disconnected and in the few scenes of coherence we have two men who want to love each other but from circumstance and writing, they are destined to never be together. I enjoyed the ambiguity that it ends on and that there isn't a succinct answer to what happens next, even though they neatly say that they did love each other, albeit only after 30 years of having entire lived experiences apart from each other. This movie is very relatable in that aspect but as a story I also had a hard time enjoying it or seeing any kind of satisfaction from the conflicts.

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Completed
HypaGemie
0 people found this review helpful
Jul 20, 2021
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0

I really enjoyed this film.

I really did enjoy this movie, it was very different from other BL’s I’ve seen! But I found it really interesting!
The characters were great, their relationship was very sweet! And you could tell how they had a connection. This BL had more of a ‘grown up’ feel to it. And when i thought I wasn’t so into the movie by the end I loved it! I will most likely watch this again! The end part was sweet how love can still last after a long time!
If you have not seen it yet definitely check it out.
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Completed
lovelywoongki
0 people found this review helpful
Oct 17, 2023
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 10

DO NOT WATCH THIS!! BUT PLEASE WATCH THIS!!!!

okay i’m not great at reviews there’s a reason i never write them but i couldn’t not write a review for this movie. Honestly the only reason i watched it was because Zhang Hao from ZB1 sang one of the OSTs on live and i thought “hey let’s watch this random movie hao obviously likes!” without looking into it anymore. biggest mistake of my life.

Honestly if you don’t like to cry this movie is NOT FOR YOU. It had me sobbing to the point of hyperventilating and nearly throwing up more than once. But i think that also proved just how well written and amazing the acting of this film is and how clearly the passion of the director and writer (who this story is based on) shows through.

This movie is so worth a watch as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into and want to cry a river!

I’d also recommend looking up a list of TW for this movie if there are certain things your sensitive too :)

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Completed
D28
0 people found this review helpful
Apr 19, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers

Some of the actualities of an LGBTQ+ love-life.

I cannot emphasize how much, I am in a state of dilemma, on whether I should be sad about the ending of the story or rest on the bitter realization that not every love story would be a happy one. The story wholly describes how a person comes to terms with their sexuality, and how they develop feelings for the wrong person. I am so content with how Jia-Han had accepted being gay, starting from having a crush on Birdy, then experiencing jealousy when Birdy hangs with a girl to conditionally coming to his parents just to confess his feelings for him.

The life lesson argued between Jian and Father Oliver is the gold to be mined. "How is your love greater than mine ?" would be the epitome of subtle inference to the gender equality issues we face even today. This story made me realize how religion can a boon and a curse to your life. The old pedagogy of the church has derogatory effects in the community even today.

I was very personally hurt and disappointed by the story of Jia-Han, I think he is the one the story didn't do any justice to. I feel, that even in the end when Birdy subtly confessed his real feelings toward Jia-Han, he wasn't accepting it wholly. I was distraught to see Jia-Han still getting rejected for a drink by Birdy, after all these years.
In the end, a dream is portrayed of their younger versions joyfully singing the theme song, in the streets of Montreal.

So, in the end, there is this dreamy picture that we paint for ourselves of living with our loved ones, irrespective of gender, caste, or race. But in the end, we do realize that we are chained by the norms of society and religion, who dictate our life for us and paint our lives just in black and white.

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Completed
Roshnie6
2 people found this review helpful
Feb 21, 2021
Completed 0
Overall 5.0
Story 10
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

Too dark

Soo as i have written before i dont really like dark movies/drama...i live the fluffy cheesy ones with picknicks in and sunny bright skies!

However after reading some reviews on this movie i thought i should give it a try...

I really love the story! And the reality behind it! It is really difficult to be honest about your sexuality as it is let alone in a christian community.

I could really feel the pain of the male lead that was expkaining the story to the pastor. He was hurt sooo bad....and it was soo difficult to express....

I do think they could have made this movie 10 times better if would have expanded this to a drama or elaborated more about the mix feelings between the leads and the struggle against sociaty.

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Your Name Engraved Herein (2020) poster

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