By now you’ve probably heard of Paper Heart, the quirky indie mockumentary/documentary featuring Michael Cera.  Maybe you’ve even heard enough about it to know that although Michael Cera is the big name in the film, it’s really the baby of Charlyne Yi, who rightfully owns her role as the lead in the project.  Happily, I was able to catch the flick last night at our little arts theater.  Sadly, the theater is closing for good tomorrow.  Alas.

I went in to Paper Heart pretty sure that it was going to be an annoying let down.  I was sure that it would be a cheesy, sleepy indie stereotype.  I was sure that I was sick enough of Michael Cera playing a typical Michael Cera character that Michael Cera playing Michael Cera would be Michale Cera overload.  Michael Cera.  I was sure it would be too sappy, being about love and all, and I had heard mixed reviews of Charlyne Yi, many indicating that her “quirky lovable geekiness” just came off as acting like a 4 year-old.  But even with all of my reservations, Paper Heart won me over.

The film is part documentary, part mockumentary -  Charlyne doesn’t believe in love and sets out with her filmmaker buddy to interview couples across America about their understanding of love.  These segments comprise the documentary portion of the film, and are animated sweetly with handmade paper puppets, which makes the film sound like its trying too hard but actually works really well.  The mockumentary portion of the film follows Charlene and Michael as they embark on a romance of their own.  Despite my concerns about not liking this film, I found myself smiling throughout it and even getting choked up a little towards the end.

I didn’t expect to be touched by Paper Heart, but I was.  I really recommend this film, and encourage you to put your preconceptions about it aside.  It was refreshing to see a film about a smart, independent young woman searching for answers and allowing herself to be who she is, one of the dudes, without trying too hard or feeling ashamed.  I identified with Charlyne’s feelings of not feeling “normal” and questioning whether love really exists and whether or not it’s more trouble than its worth.  And I was happy to watch her reach her own conclusions.

*Midday Edit* Something I forgot to mention that I wanted to include in my post was the treatment of diversity issues in the film.  Of which there wasn’t much.  Aside from Charlyne and Michael’s relationship, the only other biracial relationship that was seen was the Vegas marriage of an old white man to a much younger Asian woman.  The struggles that are often inherent in biracial and cross-cultural relationships were never mentioned.  Additionally, I was happily surprised to see that Charlyne included an interview with a gay male couple, and presented them in the same way she presented heterosexual couples.  However, there was no lesbian representation, nor transgender, genderqueer, or bisexual representation.  This probably isn’t something that all movies need to target, but being so different from the typical romance, I had hoped for more non-traditional love relationships to be included.

I saw Jennifer’s Body last night (bummed I couldn’t make it opening weekend, but such is life), and for all the feminist debates about whether or not it (or Diablo Cody or Megan Fox) has any merit, I have to say I liked it.  I’m not usually the horror-movie type, but like it or not, this one was different.

For one thing, its kind of refreshing to see women in a horror film who aren’t completely helpless and don’t spend all of their time shrieking, crying, running, and hiding.  You don’t spend much time in this film perched on the edge of your seat waiting for the Big Bad to jump out and attack the poor little woman – in fact, you spend more of your time on the edge of your seat waiting for the Big Bad to jump on and attack the poor horny boy.  It’s amazing how disorienting it was to watch male characters struggle to get away from a teen in a prom dress, not because they shouldn’t want to, but because it’s so rare to see a woman not only powerful, but on offense rather than defense.  For once, both the villain and hero were female and the prey were male, and not the other way around.

Based on this premise, one might think that the film has some feminist under(or over)tones, and yet the reactions in the webisphere have been pretty strongly divided.  Yes, the film is titled “Jennifer’s Body” – there is some objectification inherent.  Yes, Megan Fox is a babe and there is a fair share of (implied) nudity.  Yes, Amanda Seyfried is pretty beautiful for a “mousy” best friend.  Yes, there is some girl-on-girl action.  And yes, sex has some graphically violent consequences.  BUT…

My analysis (spoilers and all) ahead.

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