The Awkward Believe in Paper Hearts

It didn't take much persuasion by a friend of mine to get me to see Paper Heart last week. "What's the movie called? Paper Heart? ...Wait it has that crazy awkward Asian girl (Charlyne Yi) from Knocked Up in it along with George-Michael Bluth himself, THE Michael Cera? I'm in!" The very notion of these two nebbish characters joining their forces within a single film, much less one recounting the story of their true-life courtship, is brilliant. As you may imagine, the film stars Yi as a charming, quirky yet lovable up and coming comedienne/actress opposite of Jake Johnson, playing the film's director and Yi's friend Nick Jasenovec. Their mission is simple: Yi, who claims to not believe in love, will put her convictions to the test as she and Nick film a documentary and interview subjects all across the country. Her assumptions about love are put to the test when she meets Cera (playing the same character he plays in every film/TV show...at least this will hold me over until more Arrested Development) and a delicate romance begins to blossom between the two, all while the cameras are rolling in the background.

What unfolds is a very clever "mockumentary" that deftly blurs the line between reality and fiction. The film's most touching moments are its When Harry Met Sally style recounts of how various people met and fell in love. We hear the stories as shared by the couples themselves and view them not as a pure dramatizations, but rather in the form of playful dioramas that Yi seemingly created herself (see above picture for an example). One of the film's most laugh out loud moments came on a playground in the deep South, where 7 year olds quite literally lectured and interviewed Yi about love and dating ("...best date you ask? Hot wings at Applebees!"), exposing at least one child that is destined to be television's next Bob Eubanks or Bob Barker. Yi also interviews some of her celebrity friends regarding their views on true love, namely the hilarious Seth Rogen and Demetri Martin.

Coming off of seeing (500) Days of Summer just one week prior, I may have become a little indie'd out, but that said the movie's tone of quirky optimism makes you leave the theater beaming no matter how much you try to the contrary. Unlike (500) Days, which impressed with both its complex writing and cinematography, Paper Heart benefits from Yi and Jasenovec's simple structure and premise, a serene soundtrack (mostly penned by Yi and Cera), and its charming naivete. Paper Heart makes for a compassionate and hilarious summer diversion in which Yi and Cera take you along for the ride of their lives, documenting (or mockumenting?) the very roots of their budding relationship.

Nazis...I Hate Those Guys!

To all (now apparently 5) of my loyal readers, an explanation for my absence. Well, there was that whole "passing med school thing" from April through May, in which every week we had a final or midterm every week. Then there was that job I got telecommuting/tutoring this kid in prep school in Massachusetts (btw, best $45/hour I'll ever earn, love multitasking on YouTube). There was that awesome Spring Break in Punta Cana, where I won $5 at Blackjack (coming out ahead $305 in total compared to where I expected to be), read Pride and Prejudice for the first time, and witnessed a classmate of mine wearing a terrible banana hammock. Then there was the epic Scrubs farewell post that I had planned for, oh I don't know, ONE YEAR, and then I find out that they're bringing back the show without Zach Braff next year, come on! I had my closure and then they just yanked it away.

But my greatest hurdle over the past few months has been my epic failure to compile my Unified Theory of Nazis in Film whereby I am able to predict, with stark accuracy, the box office potential and critical reception of a film based on the number of Nazis that die in the film. You see, I first postulated Price's First Hypothesis on Nazis about a year ago. I made the observation that the two Indiana Jones flicks in which Nazis were the main protagonists (just check out these scenes from Raiders and Last Crusade) both outperformed at the box office and boded better with critics than Temple of Doom (the new one, which grossed some ungodly amount of money, I will not even legitimize in this discussion as it was so awful). Then I thought about other films in which Nazis make a nefarious appearance: there are my beloved Sherlock Holmes movies, American History X (ok...neo-Nazis too), Enemy at the Gates, Downfall, American History X, Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, Cabaret, Defiance, The Great Dictator, and Casablanca.

According to this logic, you could have understood my rabid appetite for Quentin Tarantino's upcoming Inglorious Basterds, in which a band of Jewish soldiers exact blood-thirsty revenge upon hundreds of Nazis in WWII France. Similarly, now I could understand why (besides that whole Tom Cruise as the lead actor thing) why Valkyrie was doomed to failure from the start, not only did they not kill enough Nazis, but they failed to kill THE Nazi in charge.

As sound as I believed my hypothesis was however, I was troubled by another startling observation that I made, dubbed Price's Second Nazi Hypothesis, whereby I noticed that despite the failure of Nazis to die in certain films (The Pianist, Schindler's List, and Sophie's Choice being prime examples), the emotional impact of the pain that they cause seems to be correlated with their success. I was therefore forced to attempt to reconcile my two conflicting theories, and I squandered for months, until I gave up at the end of classes, approximately 4 weeks ago. It seems that I was doomed to fail to create my Grand Unified Theory of Nazis in Film just as Einstein failed to devise his Grand Unified Theory reconciling electromagnetism with his theory of general relativity.

In any event, many apologies for the absence, and as a sign of my regret, please accept these ten Scrubs clips as a sign of my regret. They should have been posted in ABC knew to just let sleeping dogs lie and not renew the show.

A Random Sampling of My Favorite Scrubs Clips:

1) JD Enters the hospital as a Surgeon: If only being a doctor were this cool
2) I want you to want me: It's the first memory I have of watching Scrubs on its original premier date, and it's a classic.
3) Ted's Band: Just genius. Hey Ya too.
4) Turk vs. the Chinese Surgical Residents: Betrayal Five!
5) Turk's Sex Dream with Eliot: Again, if only being a doctor were this cool.
6) JD's Rerun Dance Fantasy: Come on guys, let's make it happen!
7) The Cool Cats: The best Air Band ever. Also, Turk's audition.
8) If Dani Lives With JD...: Stop being such a fuddy duddy!
9) Scrubs: The Musical: Best musical episode of a sitcom....ever.
10) The Final Scene: A beautiful background song, a poignant final walk through the halls of Sacred Heart, a nice sampling of the shows past guest stars and co-stars, a hopeful look to the future, and some of the closure we all needed after 8 years. Farewell Scrubs, we loved you.

(500) Days of Zooey (Summer)

"This is not a love story. This is a story about love." Each of the many times that I have been prodded by a friend to describe (500) Days of Summer, I found myself resorting to this simple, albeit wholly accurate, synopsis of the film's themes and plot. This is not a love story so much as it is the story of Tom's (portrayed by 10 Things'/3rd Rock's Joseph Gordon-Levitt) agonizing journey from love at first site with Summer (get it? played by Zooey Deschanel) to post-relationship existential crisis to his ultimate recovery while along the way learning about the reality of love and relationships. The story unfolds in an Annie Hall-like, non-linear fashion, jumping between early "days" and late "days" (marked by screen placards) in his relationship with Summer, showing both the good and the bad, the shaky legs upon which the relationship first stood and then how easily they were cut out from beneath it. But to come away from that brief description with the assumption that the film as at all depressing, you would be quite wrong. In fact, you leave the film with a effervescent sense of happiness, pure and simple, as Tom finally gets his break.

(500) Days was brilliantly directed by feature film newcomer Marc Webb. As it turns out, Webb made his name in the film industry by directing music videos for a variety of major musical acts, everything from Daniel Powter to Diddy to Backstreet Boys (check out the video section of his website), and this background shines time and time again throughout the film. Whether it be a Disney style dance number with an animated robin, a Take On Me-esque pencil sketch sequence, a sequence showing Tom post-breakout that was highly reminiscent of Powter's Bad Day video, and a truly heart wrenching sequence showing side by side Tom's "Expectation" and "Reality" play out at a party. Webb also uses several techniques that harks back to the French New Wave, including a sequence with a French narrator in which Tom watches his story unfold before his eyes, and by splicing scenes from The Graduate into specific parts of the film to add emotional urgency. The inclusion of scenes from The Graduate immediately brought to mind not just Dustin Hoffman and Mrs. Robinson, but also Garden State, another film that not as overtly referenced the classic and a film to which (500) Days has already drawn much comparison.

In addition to Webb's playful, yet emotional, direction were the strong performances by JGL and ZD. JGL has quite noticeably matured a ways since his 10 Things past, and he has also lightened up his act since the teen-neo-noir Brick. He played both dimensions of his character with ease, as both the awkward, idealistic lover searching for excuses to talk to his crush and the cynical, misanthropic shell of a character that was left raw immediately following their breakup. As for ZD, I am convinced that the whole palette of the film may have been chosen to match her eyes and a particular sun dress that she wore to a scene set in Ikea of all places. We quickly find, however, that her disarming beauty conceals a very complicated, maybe selfish, maybe manipulative, maybe confused, but certainly emotionally walled off Summer. See what your opinion of her character is and how it changes as more and more days unfold, I think that the development, while subtle, is implicit in understanding why Tom fell for Summer in the first place.

Complemented by a stellar soundtrack featuring songs by Regina Spektor and The Smiths, (500) Days is the most beautiful film I've seen in quite a while, and the first to capture the same emotional sentiment evoked by Garden State five years ago now. Speaking of GState, be sure to look out for two legendary supporting roles played by Geoffrey Arend (GState's Karl, the pyramid scheme guy) and Matthew Gubler (an intern in The Life Aquatic). (500) Days will be a pleasure to watch, from the "sunny" optimism of Day 1 to the ending conceit of Day 500.