Paper Heart
Charlyne Yi in Paper Heart
Wednesday, 21, Oct 2009 02:34
Showing at the London Film Festival on October 23rd (20:30, 20:45)
General release not yet confirmed
By Lewis Bazley.
Do you believe in love? Can you really know you've met The One when you're a teenager? Is there such a thing as an 'HEA' - 'Happily Ever After' - ending? This documentary from actress/comedienne Charlyne Yi and documentary filmmaker Nicholas Jasenovec tries to answer these questions but loses audience goodwill through blurring the lines between fact and fiction to the point of insult.
Best known on these shores for her bit part in Knocked Up, Yi's the same awkward person in Paper Heart, a potentially divisive screen presence who sways between tomboyish enthusiasm and borderline retardation. While undeniably sweet in her scenes with Michael Cera - playing himself - her goofy, sugar-high demeanour could irritate more than endear for some viewers. That'd be a shame because this quirky and likeable documentary includes some charming scenes, notably the low-budget cardboard recreations of the most romantic moments in the lives of Yi's interviewees.
Yi and Jasenovec's episodic approach is also a plus point, examining the scientific and 'mystical' truths behind love as well as discovering Yi's family and friends' views on her loneliness. But it's in the attempt to find an HEA ending for our subject that the documentary takes its biggest risk and, ultimately, stumbles.
Audience reservations begin when Yi meets Cera at a party, with the film's veracity in doubt due to the pair's acting experience. While the breaking of the fourth wall - through depicting the damage done to their relationship by the constant presence of the film crew - is successful and ripe for comedy, it only leads to some audience resentment later when you learn that Jasenovec was played by an actor and that Yi and Cera were involved in a relationship for three years.
The sly insertion of a plot into a documentary is forgivable enough, so frequently heartwarming and sweetly made is the film - it just rankles a little when what you thought was a first-person documentary turns out to have been a metaphysical attempt to obscure the truth and toy with audiences.