Eric Fuerst (her69eyes)

"Paper Heart" is a movie that'll work depending on how much you enjoy watching Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera. Right of the bat, you should know this: the movie is cute. Like, really fucking cute. And, more alarming, it knows damn well how cute it is. It has the ability to aggravate and intoxicate in equal measures, and fortunately I found myself in the latter category.

In the film, actor Jake M. Johnson plays director Nicholas Jasenovec (the real director of the film). He's set on making a documentary about a close friend, comedian/musican Charlyne Yi, who claims that she doesn't believe in love. Charlyne wonders throughout Los Angeles, interviewing everyone from college professors to Elvis impersonating ministers, and attempts to uncover what all the fuzz is - what is this "love" everyone speaks of?

Before you know it, Charlyne wins over the heart of Michael Cera, playing himself. She resists the idea at first, but soon finds herself going out to dinner and a movie with him (she neglects to admit that it's a date). This relationship happens so quickly that, with any other two actors, it would be downright offensive. Charlyne and Michael, on the other hand, are both such thoroughly likable people that I had no problem comprehending that they see something in one another.

The film's documentary style is a bit familiar, but the filmmakers do what they can to inject some life into it via some cute, Gondry-esque dioramas. Charlyne is an entertaining interviewer, appearing just as playful and naive as the children she questions at a playground, and as the director, Jake M. Johnson is convincing as an artist dead-set on completing his masterpiece, no matter the means of getting there.

In the end, "Paper Heart" seems to argue that true love is an unfilmable concept. It's a peculiar thesis for well, you know, a film. Although this faux documentary doesn't add any insight to the study of romance that a seven year old girl couldn't conjure up on her own, Charlyne Yi's infectious personality makes the movie an irresistible ride.

Amongst the big late fall and winter releases is the quiet American release of "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee", an engaging drama with a terrific female-driven ensemble. Robin Wright Penn is the title character, and her work here could be considered a potential darkhorse for an Academy Award nomination. More significantly, this performance will hopefully be the catalyst for meatier roles to come from the underrated actress.

Pippa, in her late 40s, is married to a man thirty years her senior, Herb (Alan Arkin). Herb's a publisher with severe health problems, and he reluctantly accepts Pippa as a caretaker when the couple moves into a nice Connecticut retirement community. The couple has two older children, Ben (Ryan McDonald) and Grace (Zoe Kazan), who witness their mother going through a sort of midlife crisis.

As we're introduced to Pippa's current-day struggles, writer/director Rebecca Miller takes us back to her early years in order to grasp what has driven her. She (played as a teen by Blake Lively) was raised by a fiery, drug-addicted mother (Maria Bello, intense as ever), and eventually left home because of it. Her next household was her aunt's, but things take a surprising turn when she discovers that her aunt is a lesbian, and her girlfriend, Kat (Julianne Moore), is anxious to feature Pippa in an S&M photography session. Pippa, desperate for the attention, accepts the invitation with pleasure.

To delve any further into the plot would spoil the pleasantries the film has to offer. The ensemble is well-balanced, allowing each character their revealing moments, and director Rebecca Miller doesn't intrude on the proceedings at all. This is partially to the film's detriment as it consistently feels low-key and small, but Miller is smart enough to keep the rather melodramatic narrative far from Lifetime material.

"The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" is a charming drama with a thoroughly likable cast. Keanu Reeves even shows up with - wait for it - an enormous tattoo of Jesus enveloping his chest. Miller, who adapted from her own novel, paces the material well and only cautiously succumbs to overly sentimental moments in the third act. You'll have to look for it, but "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" is well worth seeking out.