REVIEW: 'Write About Love'
When That Thing Called Tadhana came out in 2014, it was celebrated as a masterpiece in clever rom-com writing and propelled writer-director Antonette Jadaone into greater stardom as an ingenious creator of Filipino rom-com films.
Initially an indie film (it was first screened as part of the Cinema One Originals Film Festival), Tadhana was catapulted into the mainstream following its wide release. It was only a matter of time before other films would be written with the intent of replicating the success of Jadaone's film using a similar story formula.
One such film is Crisanto B. Aquino's first feature length film Write About Love, which is TBA Studio's official entry in the 2019 Metro Manila Film Festival.
The film-within-a-film tells the story of a young novice screenwriter (played by Miles Ocampo) who presents her script for a film titled Just Us, which was then rejected by the producers for being too "mainstreamish" and for having a plot that is too similar to a film release by a rival film company. She is then assigned to work with a veteran screenwriter (played by Rocco Nacino) to revise and improve the script.
As the two collaborate via Google Docs to revise the script, the plot of Just Us unravels to the audience. It revolves around the relationship of singer-songwriter Joyce (played by Yeng Constantino) and her longtime boyfriend Marco (played by Joem Bascon). Entangled in their respective careers, cracks inevitably appear in the relationship leading to conflict.
After Marco asks her to choose between their relationship and the prospect of working abroad, Joyce chooses the latter and flies to South Korea with her band to work as performers in a Korean restaurant. Reeling from her failed relationship, Joyce falls for one of her bandmates (played by Felix Roco).
Meanwhile, as Marco wallows in misery from Joyce's departure, he learns that he has stage 4 lymphoma and has months to live.
Eventually, the two reconcile after Joyce, who realizes she still pines for Marco, breaks up with her bandmate. Soon, their relationship is back to where it was before, but is suddenly threatened after Marco's terminal illness is revealed to Joyce. The revelation only makes their love for each other grow even stronger and Joyce stays to care for Marco.
We all know that Joyce and Marco's story isn't the real story in Write About Love. It is a device employed by Aquino to push forward the love story of Ocampo and Nacino's unnamed characters.
As the two screenwriters revise the script for Just Us, the film takes a self-referential turn, as Ocampo's charater (and the audience) are given a lecture on script writing through Nacino's character. Ocampo and Nacino also appears within scenes of Joyce and Marco's story as unseen third persons changing and directing the film's narrative. Peppered with quotes from Ricky Lee's Trip to Quiapo, the film is a rom-com on how to write a rom-com.
The collaboration between the two writers eventually leads to them being comfortable with each other. They open up about each other's lives and this ultimately blossoms into romance. But as in any rom-com film, conflict also brews between the two as Nacino's character suddenly withdraws from the collaboration following the death of her girlfriend due to leukemia. Ocampo's character is then forced to complete the script while also dealing with unresolved issues regarding her parents' separation.
While Ocampo's character was able to write the ending she wants for Just Us, she resolves to forgo this ending and chooses to reconcile with Nacino's character so they can come up with an ending together, leaving both stories open ended.
Write About Love's film-within-a-film and rom-com on how to write a rom-com may seem novel to the indiscriminate viewer, but if you separate the two films and examine them carefully, it ultimately buckles as several portions of its plot are forced.
Conflict is forced upon the characters of both films. Marco and Joyce fight over the latter's decision to go to South Korea when it should not have been a conflict in the first place. If you're planning on working abroad, it's only logical that you talk to your partner about your plans so that it won't affect the relationship.
Likewise, conflict is forced between Ocampo and Nacino's characters. After enjoying a memorable night together camping in Sagada, Nacino's feelings for Ocampo takes a sudden 360-degree turn as it is revealed to the audience that he is still in a relationship with his leukemia-stricken girlfriend, who has just died.
It's a pity that said girlfriend was used as a plot device to advance the relationship of the two scriptwriters. It's also a pity that while said girlfriend is suffering from leukemia, her boyfriend is camping and sharing an intimate moment with another woman in Sagada. It bothers me how a veteran scriptwriter, who was established in a nice and insightful man in the film, could do this to this.
As to how Nacino's character became a veteran scriptwriter in the film, nobody knows, as it wasn't established in the film. All we know is he's read Lee's book and suddenly he's an expert in writing rom-coms.
Even the conflict between Ocampo's character and her father (played by Romnick Sarmenta) seemed forced since it wasn't established in the beginning. In Sarmenta's first scene in the film, he was built up as a doting father who buys books for her daughter in Praque. The rest of the conflict's details are supplemented by narrations from Ocampo's mother and herself, which for me does not suffice in building tension.
By forcing several conflicts within the story, the film struggles in coming up with a satisfying resolution for the two stories and it is eventually forced to leave both stories open ended. It wasted an opportunity to become even more clever and self-referential.
The key takeaway from Trip to Quiapo that Nacino's character says in the film talks about the three types of writers: First, writers who use the established route to get to Quiapo. Second, those who don't take the established route and find other ways to get to Quiapo. And third, those who don’t get to arrive in Quiapo and end up in another place but can make us believe that the place is Quiapo.
By attempting to replicate Tadhana's style through a conceited use of a film-within-a-film device to forcibly advance its uninteresting plot, Write About Love definitely ended up in another place — but it's foolish to believe it's Quiapo.
Write About Love
Running time: 1 hr 45 minMain Cast: Miles Ocampo, Rocco Nacino, Yeng Constantino, Joem Bascon
Director: Crisanto B. Aquino
Writer(s): Crisanto B. Aquino
Released by: TBA Studios
Genre: Romance, Comedy
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