The Film
If there's one single thing that Paper Covers Rock vividly illustrates, it's the way the world is alienating and unfriendly to someone returning to a life they thought they were permanently leaving. Everything becomes impossibly complicated: how other people deal with you, how you deal with other people, how you restore connections and step back to assess the scenario that led to thoughts of ending things in the first place. It's somewhat bitterly ironic that, failing an attempt to truly detach yourself from the world around you, a person will need to do just that in order to come back to it, by further immersing themselves in the very problems they sought to escape.

This whirlwind of agony is summed up perfectly with the character of Ed, who chooses to listen and ignore to all of the worst possible elements of Sam's verbal and emotional signals to her. She has good intentions for her sister, but her actions are an inadvertent wrecking ball swinging madly towards every little piece of solace Sam tries to build. Sam goes on a date with a man named Brian (Mark Alhadeff) who works in Ed's office, and Brian is late to show up, arriving with the information that Sam and Ed are sisters and an excuse that he was swamped under at work. The question of whether Ed, as Brian's boss, was the one who passive-aggressively swamped him, or if perhaps she outright told him stories about Sam's troubled past, but even if she didn't purposefully sabotage the date, her patronizing reaction to Sam's unhappiness is the worst antidote in the world.

The movie belongs to Kaspar, who is on screen almost 100% of the time, aside from the movie's quiet, sad opening. In the interviews on the DVD, Kaspar admits she comes from a loud, enthusiastic family, and the few times when Sam lights up (primarily in meetings with her psychiatrist Dr. Gold, played by Clint Jordan), you can see that energy in her wide eyes. Sam, however, is a quiet, repressed person, and so Kaspar's energy is left to boil under until she can't possibly hold it in any longer. An extended emotional breakdown that starts in a park, shifts to a bar, and ends in the apartment of a sad-eyed stranger (Tom Brangle, very good) is an emotional rollercoaster guided by Kaspar's powerful performance.

Director Joe Maggio works in the same minimalist style as the mumblecore movement, although there isn't much of the quirky sweetness that usually defines those films to be found here. Little touches, like POV shots of Sam's view of the world through her hands, and a sole charming scene where Sam follows a few silly instructions to get a nice gift work really well, and Maggio keeps the pace brisk. Any movie that takes its time and lingers on the minutia of people's lives runs the risk of becoming boring, but Maggio times the story beats perfectly, avoiding the 2nd-to-3rd act drag I often feel in movies.

In one of the movie's opening scenes, Dr. Gold suggests that what Sam needs is "a little normalcy", but during her stay in the clinic, "normalcy" has started to seem impossible. The world Sam returns to is one filled with land mines, whether they come in the form of her sister's attempted helpfulness, the decisions other people have made in her stead while she was away, and potential suitors for a life in the future that seems so far away. I thought about the title, Paper Covers Rock, which Sam wins a round of in a local bike shop. She may be good at the game when the stakes are low, but she is the rock, defeated and overcome by the seemingly insigificant things in her life that weigh her down.

The DVD
Much like the other DVDs I reviewed from IFC recently, Paper Covers Rock arrives in a clear plastic case, with reasonably striking artwork on the front. Overall, I'd say the fonts chosen and the layout of the back cover are a bit on the bland side, but it's better than most DVD covers. Still, the studio hasn't learned the lesson I tried to teach them: if you're going to do a clear case, you should print something on the inside! The disc itself features similar but not identical artwork, and there is no insert.

The Video and Audio
IFC's 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer of Paper Covers Rock is visibly digital, both during movement (which has that tell-tale ghosting) and when you look at it up close, but otherwise this is a colorful, detailed presentation that probably wouldn't look leaps and bounds better in HD thanks to the source.

The Extras
Two featurettes are included: "Interviews With Cast" (9:29) and "Interview With Composer Sam Bisbee" (3:16). Both are short, candid interviews with the people in question, and while there's not much to say about them in terms of this review (because if I shared all the most relevant bits, I'd invalidate their usefulness), they're worth checking out if you enjoy the film.

Trailers for Uncertainty, Mammoth, Alexander the Last, and Mary and Max play before the main menu.

Conclusion
Paper Covers Rock is another low-key independent success that captures the powerful emotional turmoil of attempted suicide and its aftermath thanks to a knockout performance by its lead actress. Highly recommended.