Exploding on Spring Break

Being in a relationship in college is tricky. Staying close with one person as your life is radically transformed by the people you meet and the experiences you have is difficult. For Ivy, the title character in "The Exploding Girl," one week of spring break sees the end of one relationship and the fruits of another forming at the same time.

 

It's not purely a college movie, but for star Zoe Kazan, "The Exploding Girl" is a film that should be extremely relatable for people in college. Kazan, who graduated from Yale in 2005, describes it as a "very true portrait of what it's like to be in college" where much communication between boyfriends and girlfriends occurs by cell phone and by texting. Kazan sums up the film as a "love story about a friendship that's blossoming into something more where the values are a little less pop-cultural than on 'Gossip Girl.'" It's a very appropriate movie for the college demographic because it emphasizes the idea of still growing up while not yet being a grown-up, and it's certainly far more sophisticated and pensive than the popular CW TV show.

 

Another crucial element that differentiates it from the high school soap opera is the presence of a minimalist cast. Ivy's journey is truly her own, with only a few key individuals to spirit her along in her quest to find happiness. Kazan enjoyed the chance to work on a film that emphasized character rather than plot after appearing in December's mainstream star-studded comedy "It's Complicated." This is her first leading, and it allowed her the opportunity to return to the kind of complex drama she worked on in "Revolutionary Road." Her demeanor is quiet and held back, and she says more with just her eyes than by ever uttering a word. Emerging from the ranks of the stacked ensembles in which she has appeared in the past, it is clear that Kazan is talented and should look forward to a bright future.

 

While director Bradley Rust Gray may have more life experience that his main actress, he shares a similar outlook on the film. Reflecting back on his own educational experiences, Gray describes the feeling of returning home after college and encountering the same people after having new life experiences. Gray believes that you lose touch with more and more friends as life goes on, and it's partially due to the fact that "the people you call your friends in high school aren't really your friends, they're just people you're familiar seeing." The movie captures that notion, since Zoe isn't really seen bonding with anyone she used to know except for the one person who might be her new beau. It is evident that Gray cares deeply about his characters since he spends a great deal of time focusing in on them, rather than trying to capture some grand big picture or make a sweeping declarative statement about relationships.

 

The movie speaks for itself. How relationships work is explored closely by this extended snapshot of Ivy's life. There is a certain nostalgia inherent in Ivy's experiences that seems to have been borne out of the experiences of the talent behind the film. "There's no place I can go back to where I see all the people from college because they're all from different places," Gray says. Kazan points out that all her close friends from high school were the friends she grew up with, and that she has little interest in going to her college reunion because her friends spanned all the various years of college and can't be easily condensed together. Going home on spring break while still in college, however, allowed for the opportunity to reignite old passions and renew dormant friendships. "The Exploding Girl" is a simple film that seeks to spotlight characters and their relationships.

 

As Gray puts it, the film is about "reconnecting with a friend you had before and finding someone you want to be closer with." Kazan is quick to emphasize the fact that Ivy and her college boyfriend, Greg, are not in a long-distance relationship, but are simply apart for a week while they're on spring break – it just happens to be the week they break up. It's one meaningful, life-changing week. Kazan compares "The Exploding Girl" to "Lost in Translation," citing both as coming-of-age stories that take place over a short period of time. Scarlett Johansson was adrift in Tokyo, and Ivy, the heroine in "The Exploding Girl," is adrift in her own home. It is hardly as easy to get caught up in the magic of this film as it was with Bill Murray, but it is still an intriguing character piece.

 

Abe Fried-Tanzer is a staff writer. E-mail him at film@nyunews.com.