Director: Nathan Frankowski
Starring: Kat Dennings, Chad Michael Murray, Rupert Friend, Mark Saul, Juliana Harkavy, Corbin Bleu
Certificate: 15
Extras: Deleted Scenes, Making Of The Movie: From Story To Screen, Music In The Movie: Amplifying The Story, First Look: Renee Yohe’s Story, Character Profiles, On-Set Video Blogs
Filmed and originally released in the US in 2012, TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS is an emotional story based on true events. However, with the three year wait for the film to be released over here – and it going straight to DVD – does it hint at the quality of the film? I’ve made my decision…
Kat Dennings (2 Broke Girls) stars as Renee Yohe, a Florida girl who struggles with addiction, abuse and mental health issues. Blocking out the world through her headphones, Renee yearns to believe in the fairytales she loved as a child. After major life events push her into a dark, unsafe world of drugs, alcohol and strange men, she finds it hard to cling to those stories and get back to reality. However, when a friendship blossoms with former addict David McKenna (Rupert Friend), it looks like Renee may just have a shot at normality again.
The story centres around Renee’s issues and problems, and how her meeting with McKenna inspired his friend Jamie Tworkowski to set up the non-profit movement To Write Love On Her Arms, an organisation helping people deal with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicidal thoughts. Since its founding in 2006, TWLOHA has donated over $1.5 million directly into treatment and recovery plans, responding to more than 180,000 emails from 100 countries.
As much as I completely support the basis and ideas of TWLOHA, the film falls pretty flat. Dennings is a strong lead actress, a natural on screen, summoning empathy from the audience throughout. However, the rest of the cast just come across as stiff add-ons, not giving anything extra to the narrative. The visual effects used to represent Renee’s visions and delusions are clever but, at times, very gimmicky, especially when they appear in the more serious, emotional scenes – unnecessary distractions from Dennings’ acting. Alongside this, while the charity has been supported by many bands and artists over the years, the scenes focused solely on music are – like the visual effects – cheesy and detract from the main message. Additionally, the film’s anti-climatic ending, followed by the real-life story summaries, leave the audience feeling deflated and let down, with Renee left in a strange balance between recovery and relapse.
All in all, while TWLOHA carries an important message, the film doesn’t really do anything or go anywhere. A shame, since Dennings is great in 2 Broke Girls and other titles I’ve seen her in.
[usr=2] TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS is released on DVD from Monday 30th March.
