Paper Heart (2009)

Directed by: Nicholas Jasenovec
Starring: Charlyne Yi

**1/2

The biggest problem with Paper Heart was not know what was real and what was scripted. That aside, it was actually a nice little ironic take on a love story. Its filmed documentary style and follows Charlyne Yi, whom you'll recognize from Knocked Up as she investigates what love is to people. She's so interested in such a topic because she's somewhat convinced that she isn't capable of such an emotion. What makes this movie work, interestingly enough is the familiar faces. Seeing people who aren't necessarily famous (with the exception of Michael Cera and Seth Rogan) but known investigating a very normal aspect of life added a twist that made this movie what it was.

Michael Cera plays Charlyne's boyfriend and it is of course fun to watch them interact but it begs the question was Cera acting or being himself... they are both pretty much the same. This is the extension of not knowing what is real and what isn't as I'm aware of the fact that Cera and Yi did date in real life. Did this relationship begin during the production of this film? Was their meeting in the film, their real life meeting? Not knowing the answers to these questions didn't hurt the film in the sense that it became confusing but it was frustrating and hence distracting.

So Charlyne and director Nick travel the country interviewing people who've been together for a long time and we hear their love stories. These stories are reenacted by little puppet shows that are a nice poignant element to the film but there is so little of this going on it really only becomes a documentary crew following Michael and Charlyne with hopes that they'll catch her telling him that she loves him. It is kind of frustrating because they have a relationship that's very easy to root for but even for people who's profession exists in front of cameras, its easy to tell that they are uncomfortable exposing their private life in front of them. At times, I really wanted to yell at the screen to leave them alone. However, with the absence of that relationship and the lack of many random interviews and puppet shows, we wouldn't have much of a film. So again, was I watching something real?

While watching Charlyne, I really wanted to believe that this film was scripted because she turned in a pretty damn good performance. Of course, if it wasn't scripted, she displayed some very heart felt emotions and one can only sympathize with her. She did a very good job making the most out of every situation. She seems to have come to terms with the fact that she won't fall in love but she doesn't dismiss the idea that love exists and she's happy for people who've found it. What she doesn't realize or understand is that love comes in many ways. This is something that the film almost captured. Through interviews, we learn that people fall in love many different ways and they know whether or not they are in love in different ways. So did Charlyne love Michael? I like to think she did, but she nor the film was every willing to admit that.

Paper Heart is a nice movie. It has a heart to it and a stronger one than paper but there's nothing about it that's all that great. I know I'm dwelling on it but not knowing whether or not I was watching a performance or someone following direction really is very distracting. I liked that we were watching people we've seen before but at the same time, it would have been much easier to believe as true had we been watching strangers. It ended up being a fine line that this did balance on, but it was shaking and nearly fell several times.