Review: The Exploding Girl

The Exploding Girl. It's a title that simply pops right out at you. It leads you to believe that something momentous is about to occur, an emotional detonation with a lit fuse we've been trailing. But writer/director Bradley Gray Rust's film is actually very quiet and contemplative. Almost to a fault. The film's strength lies in the star Zoe Kazan(granddaughter of director Elia Kazan), who's maturity and quiet fortitude smooth over the all too dry patches in the story.

Kazan shines as Ivy, a first year college student returned home to her modest home in Ithaca, NY for summer vacation. Ivy is an epileptic, as we are told early on as if to set us up for the inevitable. Her boyfriend, Cary, might as well not exist. They speak in short, tension filled phone conversations that usually end with her looking worried and confused. The film's sole sole spark comes with the arrival of Al, Ivy's best friend since childhood. The two are close, but it's clear something else is going on. Their conversations are awkward, every silence full of words that clearly they are both too scared to say. Nobody wants to eff up a perfectly good friendship with a silly thing like love, do they?

Rust squeezes little actual adversity for anybody involved, and I'll be honest that for the first 30 minutes I wasn't sure what in the sam hill I was watching. Ivy doesn't seem to do much wait around for the people around her to show some attention. Al has his own life with various other friends, but Ivy seems motivated by very little. She goes to the occasional party, but fits in like a square peg in a triangle slot. She drinks and smokes despite her doctor's warnings, but pushes it to the limit when feeling especially lonely.

I've been of two minds on this film since I saw it. On the one hand, Zoe Kazan is a revelation, even though he's given very little to do she makes the most out of every single scene. Nominated for Best Actress at the Tribeca film festival, it's her quietest moments where she's on the screen alone with her thoughts that are the most resonant. There's something to be said for Rusts's naturalist style of shooting that will either endear you or irritate you. For me, it mostly works in giving the film a real, almost voyueristic quality.  It's like we're following her along as we shoot a documentary of her life. Although some will get annoyed after about the fifth time city traffic blocks you from seeing the actors.

On the other hand, there's almost nothing that happens here. The story is completely banking on the idea that you care whether or not something is going to happen between Ivy and Al. If you don't get invested in that story then there isn't much to latch on to.

For me, though, I like the way Rust builds up the anticipation in an unconventional way. These are two characters who aren't looking for love in eachother's arms, they're scared to death of the idea of it. So they avoid eachother when convenient, stay silent when necessary, and generally try to be the same people they've been all of their lives when they want desperately to be more. The clumsy moments between these two friends are the film's real winners.

The final scene, which I won't give away, is beautiful and perfect. Simple, but moving, and shows how much of a big softie I am in my old age that it pretty much won me over. If you can get past the meandering parts, chance are it'll win you over too.