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Paper Covers Rock

Play trailer Poster for Paper Covers Rock 2008 1h 31m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 1 Reviews 89% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
After being released from a psychiatric hospital, Sam (Jeannine Kaspar) moves in with her older sister, Ed (Sayra Player), to regroup. It's an arduous, emotionally taxing process, but Sam has an incentive: seeing her 7-year-old daughter, Lola, again. Just as Sam finds her footing -- a new job, a new boyfriend -- her ex-husband sues for full custody of Lola, causing Sam's newly stable world to crumble and forcing the fed-up mother to take extreme measures to reunite with her child.

Critics Reviews

View All (1) Critics Reviews
Stan Hall Oregonian On this used-car-scale budget, Maggio succeeds by relying on acting, intimacy and a smart script that makes hay of tiny details. May 29, 2009 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member An indy gem.jeannine kaspar stars and carries the movie with a star's attitude and magnetism.this movie is all heart.no good against evil just a small human story about a self-destructive young girl who faces the possibility of losing the custody of her child after she tries to make,of what it seems,a suicide attempt.ambigious ending,but this movie stays within you for a while mostly because of this young actress who should have been a movie star after this movie. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member Just goes to show you don't need alot of money or stars to make a good movie as long as there is a good story. While extraordinarily dry and it does look cheap, the acting and honesty the film has makes it worth while. I am glad I watched this one. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member An excellent indie about a woman struggling with depression. The film concentrates on the main character's emotional turmoil rather than the narrative-this could be a good thing or bad thing, depends on the viewer really. Personally, I thought the reason the film worked was beause it gave a real intimate look at what the character is going through rather than distracting us with unnecessary drama that maybe more mainstream films are full of. Jeannine Kaspar gives her character depth despite the lack of more background on her character, one can feel for her plight. Her perfomance is pitch perfect. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member "Paper Covers Rock," is an independent movie written and directed by Joe Maggio is about Sam played by Jeannine Kaspar who is a troubled mother struggling to put her life back together and get custody of her daughter after a suicide attempt. It was made in 2008 but is just now being released on DVD on Tuesday, May 4, 2010. Sam's six-year-old daughter walks in on her after attempting to asphyxiate herself. After a stay in a psychiatric hospital, she moves in with her loving, neat-freak, older sister, Ed played by Sayra Player. Kaspar fantastically captures the symptoms of depression and isolation as she struggles in her recovery but has difficulty reconnecting, even with the people she loves the most like her sister and daughter. She keeps seeing a therapist played by Clint Jordan and develops an interest in rebuilding a bicycle. When a literal game of Rock-Paper-Scissors broke out to determine the price of a bike wheel, it definitely brought a smile to my face along with Sam's. Kaspar dwells on being as minimal as possible in her performance and it pays off when she finds events that do get her incredibly emotional and vocal making them stand out all the more. Sayra Player's portrayal of Ed is worth noting due to her earnest goodwill toward her sister, her attention to the tiniest differences in emotion, and topping it all off with possessiveness of her space and a serious perfectionist streak. Sam is not allowed in Ed's room but Ed might pop into Sam's to check on her collection of saran-wrap and play watchdog. She sends the message that love also means tough love and refuses to absolutely baby her little sister just because she tried to kill herself since Sam needs to get used to reality and toughen up a little or else she'll keep trying to escape temporary problems with a permanent solution. Ed needs the validation of being needed in her life. The journey of one woman's struggle with her own reality, sanity, recovery, and dealing with denial comes off very poignantly. Sam has cut off everyone around her except for her sister. Her denial and refusal to even read her mail leaves her reeling without a clue of how to get through it all and pick up the pieces. This film contains some fantastic downplayed acting that speaks volumes and the story is saddening, but well done. DVD Extras: There is a featurette with the cast of the film, mainly Jeannine Kaspar and Sayra Player talking about the journey to finding their characters and inner emotions and includes some rehearsal footage. There is also a three minute featurette with Sam Bisbee, the composer who worked without pay on a beautiful theme of background music for this film. He used mostly piano and the introduction of another instrument called a pog for the introduction and closing credits. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Paper Covers Rock

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis After being released from a psychiatric hospital, Sam (Jeannine Kaspar) moves in with her older sister, Ed (Sayra Player), to regroup. It's an arduous, emotionally taxing process, but Sam has an incentive: seeing her 7-year-old daughter, Lola, again. Just as Sam finds her footing -- a new job, a new boyfriend -- her ex-husband sues for full custody of Lola, causing Sam's newly stable world to crumble and forcing the fed-up mother to take extreme measures to reunite with her child.
Director
Joe Maggio
Producer
Joe Maggio
Screenwriter
Joe Maggio
Production Co
Concrete Films
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 10, 2017
Runtime
1h 31m