Review: To Write Love on Her Arms
Kat Dennings sheds her brassy and wisecracking persona to portray Renee Yohe, whose struggle to detox before entering rehab inspired both the non-profit organisation and the film entitled To Write Love on Her Arms. Director Nathan Frankowski injects the straightforward narrative with some visual flights of fancy, illustrating Renee's self-created escape from the realities of her life. The gambit is an interesting one though it ultimately proves more jarring than effective.
As a young child, Renee believed in fairy tales but "her imagination turned on her and found her wherever she would hide." Already on a slippery slope by ignoring the medication for her bipolar disorder, she soon succumbs to depression, self-mutilation, sex, and drugs after an incident at a Halloween party. Her two best friends Dylan (Mark Saul) and Jessie (Juliana Harkavy) don't understand her sudden withdrawal; Jessie is still particularly wary when, two years later, Renee calls them out of the blue to ask for help.
Dylan introduces her to his boss David McKenna (Rupert Friend), a music producer and former addict who helps others with their struggles. Though Renee is finally prepared to take the first step on the road to recovery, she immediately hits a stumbling block when the rehab center refuses to admit her until after she has been clean and sober for five days (they worry her state could endanger the other patients' rehabilitations). Her parents refuse to take her in, fearing a reprise of the time when her younger sister discovered her completely drugged out.
Though David is having a tough time of it himself, he agrees to take her in and help her through the next five days. It is during this time that Renee meets Jamie Tworkowski (Chad Michael Murray), David's housemate who becomes so taken with her story that he writes and posts an article about her on his blog. The article affects thousands struggling with addiction and self-destruction, and soon becomes a nationwide movement embraced by celebrities and the media.
To Write Love on Her Arms is earnest to the point of being didactic, but it is somewhat effective in depicting how Renee's addiction has alienated those closest to her. Frankowski does not always follow the most intriguing narrative threads. Jessie's bitterness over how easily Renee disposed their friendship could have used more focus. The same goes for the dynamic between Renee and David which, though the de facto focal point of the film, is handled with a certain carelessness. Whether this stems from the film's troubled production (shot in 2012, re-edited, and lost in the festival circuit) or a pre-existing flaw in the screenplay is difficult to determine. It is a shame as Dennings and Friend do such fine work.
The most underdeveloped aspect of Renee's tale is her reaction to Jamie's appropriation of her life. She seems discomfited that her personal demons have been publicised, and is uncomfortable reading through the messages of the people who look to her as a role model with all the answers. Frankowski mildly suggests this may be a reaction to learning Jamie has a girlfriend, which is silly to say the least. It does feel odd that this potential source of dramatic conflict - one's story somehow not one's own anymore - is left unexplored, though the participation of the real-life Jamie at the end of the film may explain it.
To Write Love on Her Arms
Directed by: Nathan Frankowski
Written by: Kate King Lynch
Starring: Kat Dennings, Rupert Friend, Chad Michael Murray, Mark Saul, Juliana Harkavy, Corbin Bleu
