Movie Review: Paper Heart (2009, Directed by Nicholas Jasenovec)

To quote the late lyricist Lionel Bart: “Must I travel far and wide? / ‘Til I am beside … the someone who / I can mean something to / Where is love?” Indeed. This burning question is at the center of director Nicholas Jasenovec’s docu-comedy Paper Heart.

It’s nearly impossible to classify this movie by genre. It’s a documentary, I suppose, although much of the film is scripted and/or improvised by actors embodying fictional roles. It’s a fictional comedy, although parts of it are tragic and parts of it feature “real” people talking about seemingly real incidents. It’s a love story, although it doesn’t end like a conventional one. I’m tempted to just throw my hands in the air and admit that I don’t have a clue what the heck it is. This movie is more postmodern than postmodernism itself.

Comedian-actor-musician Charlyne Yi (a real person, I guess) says that she has never experienced real love. So, she decides to travel the country and interview various people about their own definitions and experiences of love. Along the way, she comes in contact with real-life actor Michael Cera (of Juno fame) who may or may not be falling in love with her. But, is Yi falling in love with him?

An actor playing the film’s real director frequently appears on screen to comment on the action and discuss the making of the film with Yi. Why didn’t the real director of the film decide to play himself? Is he trying to make some comment about identity in the digital age? Is he just shy of the camera? As Yi and Cera’s relationship develops, they become increasingly dissatisfied with every second of their relationship being captured on film.

When the movie showed at various film festivals earlier this year, it was assumed that Cera and Yi had a real relationship off-screen that found its expression on-screen. The truth, as it turns out, is that their relationship was completely fabricated for the camera. Some critics and bloggers are truly upset by this revelation, feeling that the movie has deceived them somehow. Personally, I think the film is way too complicated in its postmodern confusion the way it is. One more bizarre twist in the unconventional fabric doesn’t matter that much.

The only thing that does truly matter is whether or not the film is entertaining. I would answer this concern with a tentative yes. Some scenes work much better than others. Much of the “real” interview footage of long-time couples is insightful and sweet, reminiscent of the interview interlude scenes from When Harry Met Sally. Some of the scenes involving Cera and Yi’s relationship work, and some don’t. Occasionally, the movie gets too cute for its own good, especially in bizarre reenactments of key scenes performed by puppets in front child-like settings. But, as long as you’re not looking for anything particularly profound, Paper Heart can be recommended. At the end of the film, Yi still is not convinced for sure that love exists. But, she’s had fun along the way. So has the audience.