The Exploding Girl (2009)

Director:

Bradley Rust Gray

Writer:

Bradley Rust Gray (written by)

Release Date:

6 May 2010 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

On a summer break from college, Ivy (Kazan), a young epileptic woman, struggles to balance her feelings for her fledgling boyfriend while her friend Al crashes with her for the season. |

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Manatee | Breaking A Waterglass | Pizza | Game Playing

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Zoe Kazan	...	Ivy
Mark Rendall	...	Al
Maryann Urbano	...	Mom
Hunter Canning	...	Cary
Margot Ruth Tenenbaum	...	Cousin
Genevieve T. Eisner	...	Baby
Nichael Alexander Eisner	...	Cousin's Husband
Caseyarnoux Charlot	...	Doctor
Franklin Pipp	...	Greg
Kay Goldberg	...	Jennifer
Buddy Love	...	Three-Legged Dog
Caroline Elaine	...	Dog Owner
Steve Arriaga	...	Dance Student (as Steve Arriaga)
Belinda Atchinson	...	Dance Student
Jordan Boughrum	...	Dance Student
Krista Carter	...	Dance Student
Kayla De Pena	...	Dance Student
Charlie Dibe	...	Dance Student
Lamiah James	...	Dance Student
Martin Koddenberg	...	Dance Student
Angel Luis Polanco	...	Dance Student
Jose Luis Polanco	...	Dance Student
Jayla Moore	...	Dance Student
J. Reed	...	Dance Student
Ciara Womack	...	Dance Student
Miranda Xu	...	Dance Student
Elizabeth Cohen	...	Party Person
Domenique Collins	...	Party Person
Thomas A. Cronin	...	Party Person
Sonia Davis	...	Party Person
Cordelia Eddy	...	Party Person
Kieran Gannon	...	Party Person
Remi Gurak	...	Party Person
Hayley Hunt	...	Party Person
Noah Klein	...	Party Person
Guillaume Levesque	...	Party Person
Craig Murphy	...	Party Person
Ariel Poland	...	Party Person
Ken Shadford	...	Party Person
Robert Spataro	...	Party Person
Savino Sguera	...	Party Person

Directed by
Bradley Rust Gray

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Bradley Rust Gray		written by

Produced by
Billfield Cheng	....	executive producer (as Billfield Cheing)
Karin Chien	....	producer
Jason Diamond	....	executive producer
Josh Diamond	....	executive producer
Bradley Rust Gray	....	producer
Ben Howe	....	producer
So Yong Kim	....	producer
Lars Knudsen	....	executive producer
Jay Van Hoy	....	executive producer

Cinematography by
Eric Lin		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Bradley Rust Gray
So Yong Kim

Casting by
Susan Shopmaker

Production Management
David Hou	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
So Yong Kim	....	assistant director

Art Department
Ryan Mitchel	....	art department assistant

Sound Department
Bradley Rust Gray	....	sound designer: trailer
Michael Sterkin	....	sound recordist
Ian Stynes	....	sound re-recording mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Che Broadnax	....	second assistant camera
Marc-Eric Casado	....	first assistant camera (as Marc-Eric Nielsen)
Kevin Lee	....	grip
Eric Lin	....	gaffer
Douglas Seok	....	key grip
Rob Smith	....	grip

Casting Department
Randi Glass	....	casting associate
Jennifer Venditti	....	additional casting: UK

Editorial Department
Jason Diamond	....	4k workflow
Josh Diamond	....	4k workflow
Dan Divine	....	colorist
Dane Wiedmann	....	post-production assistant

Other crew
Mike Alicea	....	pigeon trainer
Krista Carter	....	production assistant
Hannah Davies	....	housing provider
Sonya Davis	....	production assistant
Melanie Glass	....	child care
Hayley Hunt	....	assistant to director
Darren Lew	....	representative: Technological Cinevideo Services
Ariel Poland	....	production assistant
Lana Ruzic	....	child care
Miranda Xu	....	production assistant

Thanks
Mynette Louie	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Soandbrad
• Parts and Labor
• MBS Productions (in association with)

Distributors

• Oscilloscope Pictures (2010) (Canada) (all media)
• Oscilloscope Pictures (2010) (USA) (all media)

Other Companies

• Creative Clearance  copyright and title search
• Don Thornburgh Law  legal services
• Film Emporium Insurance Services  E&O insurance
• Great City Productions  sound mixing
• Karen Fried & Associates  publicity
• Katabatic Digital  digital intermediate
• MBS Productions  RED digital cinema package
• Murphy PR  publicity
• Technological Cinevideo Services Inc.  lenses and accessories

Also Known As:

Runtime:

Germany:79 min (Berlin International Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Soandbrad

Trivia:

The title of the film is a play on a song (The Exploding Boy) which was on the b-side of the single "In Between Days" by The Cure. "In Between Days" had been used by the director and his wife as a title to a previous movie and so they decided to adapt "The Exploding Boy" to The Exploding Girl for the purpose of this film (as explained by the director himself on 14th Nov 2009 at the 50th International Film Festival of Thessaloníki, Greece).

Movie Connections:

References Zoo (2007)

Soundtrack:

Hvernig á að særa vini sína

sweet and heartfelt

I am always grateful to see films like "The Exploding Girl" that rely on an economy of cinematic technique to tell a story that is about very human topics in way that makes the viewer engage. It is eminently visual, as a move should be. Listening to the audio track would leave you with nothing grasp. The lack of explication only intensified the sense of youthful tragedy for things that go unsaid and opportunities missed. There's always a problem for some people about small, personal films like this one: they aren't big, flashy or hair-raising. What this film zeroed in on is the pain and uncertainty of youth, and especially of young love. To that end, it was poignant and dead on.

The only real problem I have to make about this film is that the filmmakers got too carried away with street-level camera shots that were willing to allow anything and anybody that intervened between the actors to stay in the shot, which resulted in a couple of overlong shots of blurred-out passersby or their body parts to obscure the characters. Okay, I get it that Ivy was just one more passenger on the train; but the indeterminate dark mass of fellow passenger blocking the shot for 15 or 20 seconds was just plain clunky.