To Write Love on Her Arms

This film tells the story of a young woman who has mood and addiction problems. She is helped by friends to stay clean, and subsequently they founded an organisation to help other young people.

"To Write Love on Her Arms" is not an easy film to watch or comment on, because it is a person's intensely personal journey. However, viewing it as a film, I found the plot rather difficult to understand. I don't understand why Renee is depressed and is on drugs to start with, leaving me confused for the rest of the film. Renee does not seem to have the big heart described in the plot summary immediately after her discharge from the detox centre. It was someone else who founded the charity organisation, and Renee is not even ready to deal with her own problems - let alone other people's problems. So I was left feeling muddled and cheated throughout the film.

Of course I have to say that it is great that Renee her friends are still running the charity organisation to help others, which shows that they are altruistic and compassionate. I just wish there is more of that portrayed in the film.

Produced in 2012, this film has traveled the film festival circuit for far too long without having a proper mainstream release.

The story's arc is revealed to us through the mind of the main character through an imaginative use of animated visuals. The audience is allowed to travel in and out of the mind of the main character's coping mechanisms through a very clever and effective assortment of visual and musical story devices. When these mechanisms begin to fail, these conventions carry through in an appropriately dynamic fashion.

Rupert Friend delivers a stunning performance in his supporting role, and this film will be a pleasant surprise to those who know this actor from the 'Homeland' series.

The film has some roughness around the edges, and at times feels like a very expensive (and slightly didactic) after-school special. But those moments are fleeting, and are contrasted with some very harsh visuals and story progression that are anything but didactic.

We're presented with a brutally honest story that is at times both beautiful and horrifying in its presentation of characters that come full circle in the end.

Such good and touching movie. Its story has been told very straightforward and clearly without wasting a minute and grabs your attention from the first minute. The message and closing part is such good that stays with you for hours. Kat Dennings is very lovable and believable in her role, she has done a great job here. Music is also a strong point of it. I strongly recommend to go and watch it in cinemas when its officially released(hopefully in 2015).... but there's only one thing I don't understand.... and that is: This movie has been produced in 2012 and has been showed in a number of film festivals since,.... without having released officially in cinemas for public... Why??? Such good movie why should be stored in those lousy vulnerable hard drives of Sony Pictures company that long till those hackers from North Korea( or whatever) can get their dirty hands on it and publishing it over the peer to peer websites for people to download it for free?? that's a great shame... all the hard work of people involving to producing this beautiful movie are wasted now... what a pity... thats sad...

I'll be honest that I don't know what it's like to be addicted to drugs or alcohol, and can't speak to the accuracy of the film in that regard. So I am reviewing the story on things such as artistic feel, acting, plot progression, etc. I did really enjoy this movie, which is surprising considering its content. The characters and their struggles felt real, and the movie had enough balance in the drama to not drag you down too low.

I felt that the artistic elements were beautiful and made sense to the plot. The characters seemed reasonably well acted. I admit I may be biased though as a "Two Broke Girls" fan. I actually thought a lot of the supporting cast were really good too though, and weirdly the person driving the rickshaw seems like their character's story should have been in there a bit more, as it was hinted how important they were to Renee's character, but not as well covered. I did think the person who's place she stayed at seemed a bit more shallow than their character should have been, and am uncertain if that was writing or acting.

Some people have considered this as an anti drug propaganda film, and maybe it is, I can't say. It's based on a true story, and as all films based on true stories we will never have the whole story, not just because the 2 hour time limit, but because there will always be more to the story to the people who actually lived it.

This movie is both ordinary and extraordinary. I have to confess I almost passed on it after reading a review on this site where the reviewer named Kat Dennings as his favorite actress. I couldn't imagine that. I was a fan of 2 broke girls in the beginning but drifted away from it because I felt it continued to go in a more and more ridiculous direction. I also saw Kat in the Thor movies and felt there wasn't ever going to be anything special about her.

I was wrong. This movie touched me in so many ways I hardly know where to start.

Having dealt with addictions and a major depressive order I feel I'm qualified to comment further. I was captivated by the story, which on its own unfortunately is a common and ordinary one these days. There is a lot to grasp and the pace is neither quick or slow, somehow they got it just right and that in itself is huge. The movie is honest and unapologetic and Kat nailed it. At times I related personally and at others I was reminded of someone in my life. I was totally captivated. The fact that this story is based on a true story was secondary for me.

What made this movie extraordinary for me was that they never really tried to offer a solution. They never tried to preach. Anybody who has ever sought recovery knows it is a very personal and heart-wrenching journey that can't be done alone. This movie somehow captured that.

I expected right from the start to see Kat come out as that brassy bold woman we all know and love, or not, but that wasn't the case. She portrayed perfectly a troubled girl who battled her demons and never felt quite like she was winning. She somehow made me feel like I was seeing something private and I wasn't supposed to be there at all.

The supporting cast was great as well. there were noticeable issues in personality changes in a couple of the characters, but nothing major. The story forgives itself.

This is a must see movie. If for no other reasons than to give your heart a gift. Thank you for this.