‘Your Name Engraved Herein’ Review: Gay Men Have Their First Love Too
The price we pay when we love is grief, and like Ahan, I will always choose love.
Your Name Engraved Herein has become Taiwan’s Highest-Grossing LGBTQ Film of All Time.
‘Your Name Engraved Herein’. After I watched this coming of age love story, I can’t help but cry and remember one whose name is engraved in my heart. The last time I saw him was 20 years ago, like Ahan and Birdy, our love story is ill-fated.
We are also very Catholic like Ahan and Birdy; we used to go to mass together, watch movies, dine together, everything that young lovers do. We weren’t teens. I was 32, and he was 27. I have a pet name for him; I call him Bochok.
One of the things that make me smile to this day was after we heard mass, he puts his arm around me and says, “Nap, you’re not handsome, “and I asked him, “What am I? “ He said, You are beautiful, and he just walked away, with the biggest smile on his face.
One day, he left, and I never saw him again.
About the movie — Your Name Engraved Herein.
It was the same for Ahan; one day, he never saw Birdy again. In between, life goes on. There will be other lovers that come our way. It is the way life works. It will be for Ahan and Birdy.
We have seen a dozen coming-of-age love stories, but as a gay man, our love story must be told over and over again. Love is love, what love is, it doesn't discriminate, but society does.
Set in 1987, when Taiwan, like most parts of Asia, being gay is looked down on by society, a taboo, and even today, in some parts of the world, being gay can mean death.
What is beautiful about this movie is that it forces you to look deeper than the gender of the lovers. We can see how young love can bring joy at the same time, pain.
When we are young, we can’t understand why love can be painful. As I got older, I do get it now; this is from a quote;
the price we pay when we love is grief.
Your Name Engraved Herein is now streaming on #Netflix
Final thoughts
Your Name Engraved Herein is beautiful to watch.
Dear straight people,
It is not enough to say, I have a gay friend, it is important to say, my gay friend loves the same way as I do.