Day 9 of this year's Calgary International Film Festival has come to a close, and what a crazy day it was! I woke up this morning eager to set out to watch a carefully chosen list of 4 films. Weeeell, I somehow managed to mix up which theater I was starting off my day at, and ended up missing the American Indie flick, White on Rice.
Instead, I ended up at the encore screening of Gigantic, and then set off to the Globe for a screening of the Korean gangster movie Breathless. The night finished off with a screening of the Exploding Girl, the perfect closer to an otherwise hectic day.
The film follows a quirky and lovable college student named Ivy, as she heads home to spend spring break with her mom. The course of her plans take a slight change, when she gets an awkward call from her friend Al asking if he can crash on her couch. The two have known each other since eighth or ninth grade, so of course Ivy agrees. Over the course of the time they spend together, Ivy's boyfriend becomes more and more distant, while her and Al struggle to come to terms with blossoming feelings they have for one another.
The Exploding Girl remains sincere and genuine throughout the course of its 79 minutes and this is largely attributed to the talent of the lovely Zoey Kazan in the role of Ivy, and the adorable Mark Rendall as Al. The two had fantastic onscreen chemistry, and together were able to perfectly capture the essence of two friends realizing they may love each other in a way they never imagined.
The Exploding Girl was not only a fantastically written story of two people testing the waters outside the "friends zone," it was also a cinematographic marvel. Filmed in a series of long unbroken takes, director Bradley Rust Gray was able to capture the hustle and bustle of the city and subtly intermingle it with the progression of Ivy's inner turmoil throughout the film.
If you missed the screening of this warm and fantastically shot American Indie film last night, don't fret! There is an encore screening of the Exploding Girl playing this afternoon at 4:30pm at the Globe.
