-By Neil Young
For movie details, please click here.
The emotional detonations prove minor but movingly resonant in
The Exploding Girl, an indie character study built
four-square round Zoe Kazan's persuasive performance.
Granddaughter of Elia, the elfin-featured 25-year-old (
Revolutionary Road) quietly dominates this latest
feature from husband-and-wife team Bradley Rust Gray—who writes,
directs, co-produces and co-edits here—and Korean-American So Young
Kim (
Treeless Mountain), who serves as co-producer, co-editor
and assistant director.
Intended to complement the latter's award-winning debut
In
Between Days—the movies are named for sides of the same Cure
single—this delicate Brooklyn love story functions just fine on its
own limited terms. This nicely etched miniature is likely to be
passionately embraced by some while leaving many nonplussed: Think
Miranda July's
Me and You and Everyone We Know meets Aaron
Katz's
Quiet City.
Quiet City ranked among the stronger offshoots of the
much-hyped/derided "Mumblecore" movement—and
The Exploding
Girl comes across as a high-toned extension of the mini-genre.
As shot on lustrous, pin-sharp HD-CAM by cinematographer Eric Lin,
it's a slick-looking affair that "eavesdrops" and "spies" on its
characters amid the constant, crowded hubbub of summer in the
city.
Focus is four-square on 20ish university student Ivy (Kazan), as
she idles away her long vacation back at home with her seldom-seen
dance teacher mom (Maryann Urbano). Ivy's lukewarm-at-best
relationship with fellow student Greg (Franklin Pipp) is turning
decidedly tepid, just as she's re-examining her feelings towards
longtime best bud Al (Mark Rendall). Adding further
complications—and compromising her independence—is Ivy's epilepsy,
kept in check via medication.
Though it traces a fairly predictable arc, the story follows some
intriguing tangents along the way as Ivy and Al inch toward
acknowledging their simmering mutual feelings. And via Kazan's
skilled, nuanced, empathetic characterization—especially during
several dialogue-free sequences where she communicates Ivy's inner
life solely via facial expressions—we're with this girl every step
of the way.
While Kazan is MVP of
The Exploding Girl, kudos are also due
to sound editor Michael Sterkin, who unobtrusively crafts a 3D
aural background featuring planes, birds, traffic, snatched
fragments of conversation and myriad urban ephemera.
-
The Hollywood Reporter
Film Review: The Exploding Girl
Small-scale, effective character study of a young woman struggling to cope with physical and romantic turmoil.
March 11, 2010
-By Neil Young
For movie details, please click here.
The emotional detonations prove minor but movingly resonant in
The Exploding Girl, an indie character study built four-square round Zoe Kazan's persuasive performance.
Granddaughter of Elia, the elfin-featured 25-year-old (
Revolutionary Road) quietly dominates this latest feature from husband-and-wife team Bradley Rust Gray—who writes, directs, co-produces and co-edits here—and Korean-American So Young Kim (
Treeless Mountain), who serves as co-producer, co-editor and assistant director.
Intended to complement the latter's award-winning debut
In Between Days—the movies are named for sides of the same Cure single—this delicate Brooklyn love story functions just fine on its own limited terms. This nicely etched miniature is likely to be passionately embraced by some while leaving many nonplussed: Think Miranda July's
Me and You and Everyone We Know meets Aaron Katz's
Quiet City.
Quiet City ranked among the stronger offshoots of the much-hyped/derided "Mumblecore" movement—and
The Exploding Girl comes across as a high-toned extension of the mini-genre. As shot on lustrous, pin-sharp HD-CAM by cinematographer Eric Lin, it's a slick-looking affair that "eavesdrops" and "spies" on its characters amid the constant, crowded hubbub of summer in the city.
Focus is four-square on 20ish university student Ivy (Kazan), as she idles away her long vacation back at home with her seldom-seen dance teacher mom (Maryann Urbano). Ivy's lukewarm-at-best relationship with fellow student Greg (Franklin Pipp) is turning decidedly tepid, just as she's re-examining her feelings towards longtime best bud Al (Mark Rendall). Adding further complications—and compromising her independence—is Ivy's epilepsy, kept in check via medication.
Though it traces a fairly predictable arc, the story follows some intriguing tangents along the way as Ivy and Al inch toward acknowledging their simmering mutual feelings. And via Kazan's skilled, nuanced, empathetic characterization—especially during several dialogue-free sequences where she communicates Ivy's inner life solely via facial expressions—we're with this girl every step of the way.
While Kazan is MVP of
The Exploding Girl, kudos are also due to sound editor Michael Sterkin, who unobtrusively crafts a 3D aural background featuring planes, birds, traffic, snatched fragments of conversation and myriad urban ephemera.
-
The Hollywood Reporter
