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The Exploding Girl

In her first leading role, Zoe Kazan plays Ivy, a twenty—year—old college student home for Spring Break. She’s excited about a developing romance back at school and life is seemingly perfect. When her longtime friend Al finds himself without a place to stay during the break, Ivy and her mother take him in and Al and Ivy’s friendship strengthens while her boyfriend grows more and more distant. Increasingly distressed about her conflicting feelings, Ivy struggles to keep control, not wanting overwhelming her emotions and trigger her epilepsy. Restrained and meditative, THE EXPLODING GIRL is the exquisite portrait of a young girl coming of age and finding a deeper kind of love in New York City. (Source)

Ivy (Zoe Kazan of Revolutionary Road) returns home to Brooklyn for her summer break from college. She misses her boyfriend, and calls him frequently, but they can't quite seem to connect. She spends a lot of time with her longtime friend, Al (Mark Rendall of 30 Days of Night). Al clearly has a longstanding crush on Ivy, about which he's never done anything, probably out of some combination of fear and respect for their friendship. His confusion is exacerbated when, due to family circumstances, he's forced to stay with Ivy and her mother (Maryann Urbano) during his break from school. As the summer goes on, Ivy deals with her epilepsy and the slow, painful dissolution of her relationship, while Al starts to look for love in other directions. Bradley Rust Gray wrote and directed The Exploding Girl, while his wife, So Yong Kim, served as a producer. Fans of the Cure will recognize the title as a play on their song "The Exploding Boy," the flip side of "In Between Days," which was the title of Kim's directorial debut, on which Gray served as co-writer and producer. The Exploding Girl had its North American premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, where it was shown in the World Narrative Competition. - Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide (Source)