THERE is a lot to enjoy in TBA Studios’ “Write About Love,” the lone romance among entries to this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival.
From writer and director Crisanto B. Aquino, “Write About Love” could have been a simple boy-meets-girl yarn but it rises above the usual inasmuch as it bravely employs an imaginative movie-within-a-movie treatment that allows for a fresh, new take on the genre.
In it, the heroine known simply as Female Writer (Miles Ocampo) just finished writing a script for a little film called “Just Us.”
She has succeeded in getting studio executives excited about it but they are now asking for a rewrite, noting how an upcoming film tackles a similar plot.
To help her do so, the executives is asking her to work under the guidance and direction of more experienced Male Writer (Rocco Nacino), whose last film project was a box-office-hit.
The partnership proved trying for Female Writer with Male Writer changing almost everything she created, injecting all sorts of drama in the lives of script characters Joyce (Yeng Constantino) and Marco (Joem Bascon), who are celebrating their first 100 days as a couple.
As the two screenwriters offer contrasting views on love and relationship to further develop the story, they start to realize many of the choices and circumstances in Joyce and Marco’s lives actually mirror their own.
Indeed, they may not realize it but the two writers are actually living the movie they created.
Apparently, Female Writer comes from a broken family very much like Joyce. She is trying to find some sort of silver lining creating “Just Us” based on her parents’ own love story only that, unlike in real life, she wants to end it on a happy note.
Just like Marco, Male Writer is also dealing with his own personal struggles, unbeknownst to Female Writer.
How it all plays out for both of them as well as for Marco and Joyce is what makes “Write About Love” stand out as it does away with contrivances that characterized many other romcoms.
With a G rating (suitable for all audiences) from the MTRCB and a B-Grading from the Cinema Evaluation Board, “Write About Love” opens Dec. 25. (Neil Ramos)
