Paper Heart

Year 13, Day 43 - 2/12/21 - Movie #3,745

BEFORE: I've been aware of this film for some time, and have made vague plans to include it in previous years' romance chains, but then it has never really fit anywhere - though I could have worked it in last year between films with Martin Starr, I suppose ("Save the Date" and "Lemon") or Seth Rogen ("You, Me and Dupree" and "Long Shot").  But it's maybe a good thing that I didn't, because that would have put me over by one film in 2020, and I wouldn't be able to use the film now, when I need it to make a crucial link.  See, these things have a funny way of working out.

But this film was on Hulu for a long while, and I just figured I'd find it there when I needed it - I guess maybe it wasn't there for me last February, because now it's on AmazonPrime and free on Tubi.  We're very close to the point where EVERY film is streaming somewhere, even if it's not on the platform you saw it on before.  Welcome to my world. 

Martin Starr carries over one more time from "A Good Old Fashioned Orgy". 

THE PLOT: Charlyne Yi embarks on a quest across America to make a documentary about a subject she doesn't fully understand: love. 

AFTER: I've heard various things about this film over the years, some good and some bad, also I went into watching it knowing that there's been much discussion over how "real" it is as a documentary.  I suppose you can ask this question about ANY documentary, and the question is always complicated by the filmic version of quantum physics - the act of observation, especially with a camera and sound crew - is bound to have some effect on the situation being observed.  And so many documentary filmmakers, even going back to the early days of film, when they realized their presence had some effect on the thing they were filming, resorted to "staging" the scenes that were necessary to prove their points. (The early Disney nature documentaries were notorious for this, namely the best way to get footage of one animal eating another animal was to set up the shot first, then basically use the prey like bait to get the shot.  Otherwise waiting for HOURS for one animal to eat another right in front of the camera was simply wasting too much film.)

So going in to any doc, my senses are on high alert - unless, of course, the film uses only interview and archive footage, which is the technique that a lot of the rock and roll-themed docs I've watched have used.  (There are years of MTV News footage stories just WAITING to be used...it's a wonder that Kurt Loder wasn't the most-frequently appearing person in my 2018 year-end round-up.)  "Paper Heart" instead uses a combination of interviews with long-time couples, mixed with the (probably) mockumentary-style story of Charlyne Yi's romance with Michael Cera - and to this day, there's no solid confirmation or whether they were in love IRL, or just for the film, or were friends pretending to be dating, or what.  I wish I could just roll with it and say, "Whatever, it doesn't matter, as long as an entertaining story is being told..." but I just can't. I hate being punked, so I need to know what was real and what wasn't.

I realize there was a whole trend there of actors playing fictionalized versions of themselves, perhaps it started with "Being John Malkovich" and then kind of snowballed from there, into films like "This Is the End" (also with Michael Cera) and Coogan/Brydon in "The Trip" and its sequels, Bill Murray as zombie Bill Murray in "Zombieland" (also "A Very Murray Christmas") and the prank nightmare that was Joaquin Phoenix in "I'm Still Here".  I'm sure there are plenty that I'm leaving out - ohh, like Neil Patrick Harris in the "Harold & Kumar" movies.  But let me focus back on Charlyne and Michael - were they really a couple, or just going along with a set of improvised ideas that fit into this story's framework?

What it boils down to for me is this - is Charlyne Yi being serious or is she always non-serious? I can't tell if she's doing a "bit" and being herself, or trying to be a different version of herself, because she seems too uncomfortable for either one.  I can see that some people might find her a-dork-able, but I feel like I need to know what's real and what isn't here, so what's up?  Is she pretending to be dumb?  I can't tell. There's another actor that I have this problem with, a comedian named Joe Pera. I've seen him on a couple late-night talk shows, and he has a very slow speaking manner, as if he's a very simple person, or perhaps someone pretending to be dumb for comic effect - and it drives me crazy, the not knowing.  Yi's reaction to things just don't feel real, which isn't bad acting necessarily, if she's genuinely in situations where she just doesn't know how to react, it could be "non-acting" instead.  But for a non-actor to suddenly try to act, it's just not going to feel right (see also Hayden Christensen. ZING!)

The whole premise is that she wants to go and interview people because she doesn't really understand "love" as a concept.  How is this possible?  Doesn't she love her parents, has she never had a pet or a toy that she really enjoyed, that's a form of love, isn't it?  I can justify asking long-term couples about this topic, but why do schoolchildren in a playground know more about love than she does, and she's an adult?  OK, you say, maybe she's never been in a romantic relationship, which I'll admit, is possible. Again, she's a dork, I get it, and that's OK.  But there are so many movies about love, nearly every SONG is about love, what is she not getting?  I don't have to have served in a war to know that getting shot on a battlefield would probably suck and I'd then probably die, there are many many movies about that happening!

Derp, derp, I don't understand love...what is it?  It's NOT complicated!  Look it up in the damn dictionary, or read a damn book!  You want to know what love is?  Do you want me to show you?  Do you want to FEEL what love is?  Love is, quite simply, putting someone else's needs in front of your own.  That means anything from helping out with the dishes to letting your spouse choose the restaurant, to watching the TV show they want to watch, and just watching the show or movie you want to watch later, after they've gone to bed.  Cooking (or ordering) dinner once in a while, being there to support them when they need you, or just listening to them tell you about their day - THAT'S LOVE!  You can also get together with someone and break up, some people find that's the easiest way to define it because "You don't know what you've got until it's gone", or something to that effect, but it's better to be in it and be nice and considerate and thoughtful and allow it to continue, without forcing it.  You may not be able to fully appreciate it while you're in it, but being in it is better than being out of it, and being aware of what you're missing. 

In terms of finding love, recognizing love and holding on to love, I think back on my college years, when I was making my first feeble attempts at dating, and I equate it with learning to ice skate. Go into it KNOWING that you're going to fall down, a lot. That doesn't make it easier, that doesn't make it less painful, but at least you'll be more cognizant of it, and perhaps you can even learn to fall down gracefully, if that's possible.  Fall down, get up.  Fall down again, get up again. I probably had five or six false starts before I was in a real relationship, and I made the mistake of beating myself up after each one - don't do that.  Just accept that, like ice skating, it's hard, it takes practice, try to get used to falling down, and realize pain is your friend at that point, because you will eventually learn what not to do, which things cause pain, and then you can try to avoid those things, and then you're skating!  Now, there are regular ice skaters and Olympic-level ice skaters, so it's also important to know what class you're in before you hurt yourself doing a triple axel or something.  Also, even if you become a champion figure skater, the champions still fall down, or Tonya Harding gets them clubbed in the kneecaps, so even the smartest people with the most knowledge about relationships can still find themselves curled up on the floor into a little ball, screaming "Why me?" like Nancy Kerrigan.  But hey, that's love. 

Also starring Charlyne Yi (last seen in "The Disaster Artist"), Michael Cera (last seen in "A Very Murray Christmas"), Jake Johnson (last seen in "Drinking Buddies"), Seth Rogen (last seen in "Drillbit Taylor"), Demetri Martin (last seen in "Dean"), Derek Waters (last seen in "Girlfriend's Day"), Paul Rust, Paul Scheer (last seen in "Opening Night"), Matthew Bass, Luciano Yi, Lydia Yi, Brendan Paul, Charolette Richards, James Lattig, Kim Williams, Don Emerson, Sally Emerson, Bob Sullivan, Lois Sullivan, Dan Edelstein, Mary Ann Edelstein, Sidney Hardy, Mary Beth Hardy, Sarah Baker, David Sartor, John Pivovarnick, Kristi Manna, Bill Warner. 

RATING: 4 out of 10 Las Vegas weddings