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If “Paper Heart” doesn’t find a way into your heart, then you may just have the same problem Charlyne Yi has in the movie: the inability to understand love.
In this mockumentary that mixes reality with fiction, Yi goes on a quest across the United States to try and figure out this crazy little thing called love (but of course, with an abundance of awkward humour along the way).
The film kicks off with Yi in the midst of Las Vegas, approaching strangers and asking them about love. This continues throughout the entire movie as she goes from state to state trying to figure out what love feels like, and it seems like it’s something everyone from bikers to little kids, novelists, divorce lawyers and celebrities have a say in.
This is the premise of “Paper Heart,” a film Yi co-wrote, executive produced and stars in. However, the movie isn’t just about Yi interviewing Americans about love. See, the cameras don’t just follow Yi during her interviews, they’re supposedly rolling around the clock, including a party where she meets Canadian funnyman Michael Cera (who like Yi, plays himself in this movie).
This really shakes up the film as now her quest to find love reaches a new personal and urgent level. As usual, Michael Cera plays the same uncomfortable character he always does, but he’s clearly great at it so I’m not one to complain. However, this time he’s been paired up with someone equally (if not more) socially inept: Yi. Together they create unconventional movie magic moments (which is really refreshing) and will definitely have you laughing.
Yi is such an awesome dork in this film that she’ll make any geek feel cooler than John Travolta in “Grease.” Speaking of Johns, Jake M. Johnson deserves a pat on the back for playing the film’s real-life director and co-writer Nicholas Jasenovec. It’s a really cool concept for the director of the film (or rather an actor playing the director) to literally be involved on-screen with the movie as one of the cast members. This adds this sort of fake rawness that gives “Paper Heart” its edge. Him and Yi share very funny moments, like when she tells him she thought her ex-boyfriend was in love with her by the way he stared at her, then realized he was “just on drugs.”
It’s clear this movie was made on a low budget, but Yi and Jasenovec’s creativity didn’t let the lack of dough affect their film’s quality. The comedian used puppets she made with her own two hands to illustrate some of the true-life love stories of her interviewees. And before judging the puppets, note that these are some of the coolest and most artistic ones you’ll ever see!
“Paper Heart,” which won Sundance’s Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, has been getting a lot of buzz, partly because of Yi and Cera’s rumoured off-screen relationship (which Yi has publicly denied), but it’s a movie that stands on its own — regardless of them dating in real life or not. And if that hasn’t sold you, cameos by Seth Rogen, Paul Rust and Martin Starr may do the trick.
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