Paper Heart

Director: Nicholas Jasenovec Nicholas Jasenovec

Overview

Real-life sweethearts Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi star in a fictionalized version of their romance in this indie semi-documentary comedy, written by Yi. Playing themselves, Yi and Cera embark on a scripted version of their own story. In the movie, Yi has agreed to be the subject of a documentary about her quest to discover if love really exists, since she's never experienced it. As part of her participation in the project, she has a film crew follow her around throughout every new development in her love life -- which gets complicated when she starts dating fellow comedian Cera. This portion of the film is all narrative, and was written into the script, but also as part of the documentary, Yi travels the country interviewing various people about their opinions and experiences with love, and these portions of the film are real -- the interviewees are not actors. Melding truth and fantasy, Paper Heart uses equal parts comedy and realism to resolve the ultimate question of whether love is fact or fiction.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/01/2009
UPC:	0013138009791
Original Release:	2009
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:28:00
Sales rank:	59,180

Special Features

Paper Heart Uncut; The Making of Paper Heart; Live Musical Performances by Charlyne Yi; "Heaven" Music Video by Charlyne Yi & Michael Cera; Love Interviews with The Comedians; Deleted Scenes

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Charlyne Yi	Charlene,Composer
Michael Cera	Michael,Composer
Jake Johnson	Nick Jasenovec
Matthew Craig	Actor
Matthew Bass	Himself
Sarah Baker	Actor

Technical Credits

Nicholas Jasenovec

Charlyne Yi

Nicholas Jasenovec	Director,Screenwriter,Executive Producer
Charlyne Yi	Screenwriter,Executive Producer
Sandra Murillo	Producer
Elise Salomon	Producer
Eileen Kennedy	Casting

Editorial Reviews

For general audiences, the most pertinent question to ask about Paper Heart is this: can a super-modest, extremely indie romantic comedy starring Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera possibly be too precious? The answer is that for some, it certainly could be -- but objectively speaking, preciousness is the name of the game here. Cera's brand of stammering, you-can-borrow-my-hoodie sweetness is longstanding, and Yi's take on the schtick is like a vintage Casiotone turned up to 11. So as long as you know what you're getting into, you can expect to be delighted -- because if Paper Heart is anything, it's buoyantly delightful. Despite its exceedingly unassuming tone, the film is actually a pretty interesting creative exercise. It's a scripted story in which Yi plays herself, teaming up with a filmmaker and crew to travel the country making a documentary about the meaning of love (which Yi's never experienced). But the documentary portions, and the odd mix of people she interviews on the topic, are real. She talks to elderly couples and Elvis impersonators, to members of a biker gang and proprietors of a Vegas wedding chapel, each, of course, offering a mix of touching and humorous insights. In between the real documentary segments from the pretend movie within the movie (and the intermittent use of hand-drawn stick puppets), there's a narrative storyline about Yi meeting Cera (also playing himself) at a party, and beginning a relationship that soon becomes the focus of the movie-within-the-movie. This complicates things for the couple, who are already treading lightly because of Yi's inexperience, and their pre-existing adorably awkward natures. No doubt, this movie is twee within an inch of its life, but it's also very charming, and very funny. The cutesiness is pretty severe, but it appears to be totally genuine. Even though Yi's story is fiction (or at least fictionalized -- she and Cera did actually date), she's still either playing herself or playing a caricature of herself ridiculously well, because every childish grin and earnestly composed love song feels 100-percent real. You have to love the girl, with her messy ponytail, big glasses, and oversized sweaters. And there's no end to the novelty of a human so endearingly gawky that she makes Michael Cera look like a swaggering badass.