"I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me." - Song of Solomon 7:10

FILM REVIEW:

I've been looking forward to "Paper Heart" for months now. I actually posted the trailer to the film in my blog on Friday, April 24th, 2009. So having waited just over three months for an independent film, was it worth the wait? The answer, in short, is "no." "Paper Heart", number four on my "Five Films to See This Summer", was an offbeat movie-going experience that was quirky but not satisfying as a whole.

The film is about love, and how hard it is to find it in a world where there are so many people trying to define the undefinable. Basically, the movie is preaching to the choir. If I wanted to make a documentary on how evil it is to burn kittens, I think everyone would agree with the point I was trying to make. The makers of this film broke zero ground - believe me - I'm single, and this film didn't help me at all.

If you've seen "When Harry Met Sally" or the more recent "He's Just Not That Into You", you know that those films are broken into chapters - each which begins with a couple or person in love briefly talking about one aspect of a relationship. "Paper Heart" is basically a collage of a bunch of those moments, which only breaks away from that style to follow a relationship between real life actors Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera - who both play themselves as the film is told documentary style. While I was rooting for their relationship to work, every time that storyline began to grow, the film would cut away to one of the small collage pieces, and it was just downright frustrating.

There were plenty of "smile" moments, and it wasn't overly long like so many of this summer's disappointing films, but again, it was far from satisfying. This is the third movie I've seen this weekend that I'm giving **1/2 of **** to. I'm hoping my luck will change soon with the releases of "Ponyo" and "District 9."