In his Q&A following the premiere of his feature film Paper Covers Rock, director Joe Maggio noted that he set out to make a disposable film. That is, a film made with no money, the barest of bones, with no pressure and no expectations. Naturally, the absence of some factors liberates others; Paper Covers Rock is a simple, lovely expression whose quote-unquote disposability is hardly evidenced by the care that’s been put into its execution. The film treads a familiar path, but does so with nary a false step: it serves as a reminder that narrative predictability isn’t such a bad thing if it provides room for something more interesting than traditional plot.
In this case, it is a gateway to intimacy. Occupying nearly every frame of this film is Sam (Jeannine Kaspar), a twenty-something single mother whose winsome face we first glimpse, wrapped in plastic, when her daughter discovers her laying in bed with a ziploc bag over her head. The suicide attempt is not successful and, in short order, Sam is revived, committed, and then released to the care of her older sister Ed (Sayra Player). As sisters in films generally go, Sam and Ed are diametrically opposed; one being successful and shrill, the other mopey and in shambles; the former trying too hard to mold the latter into her own image and the latter withdrawing even further as a result. It’d be novel to see those roles reversed one day, but to the credit of Maggio and Player, it’s subtly hinted at that Ed is dealing with her own form of instability. By the time the sisters reach the end of the film, they’re two peas in a pod.
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