The Exploding Girl: A subtle coming-of-age tale

by Justin Marble

May 7, “The Exploding Girl” at Kendall Square Cinema: Zoe Kazan, the granddaughter of famous film director Elia Kazan, won the Best Actress award at the Tribeca Film Festival for her portrayal of Zoe, a young college student who returns home for spring break. While there, her feelings alternate between her longtime, hometown friend Al and her new college boyfriend back at school. This subtle coming-of-age tale plays for one week at Kendall Square, and director Bradley Rust Gray has earned positive notices for his previous works.

May 7, “Babies” opens at Coolidge Corner Theatre: Babies is about, well, babies. This documentary follows four newborn infants from around the world as they experience life for the first time. Expect plenty of heartbreakingly adorable babies doing heartbreakingly adorable baby things. As a special treat, the Coolidge is featuring “Babies” as part of their “Box Office Babies” series on the 14th, which encourages parents to bring their infants to the theatre in a kid-friendly environment. Who knows? They might get a kick out of watching their peers on the silver screen.

May 7, “Iron Man 2” opens everywhere: I’m not normally one to plug a mega-blockbuster that needs no extra advertising. But director Jon Favreau’s first “Iron Man” film was actually pretty fun, if only for Robert Downey Jr.’s enjoyable performance as troubled billionaire-superhero Tony Stark. Marvel is making big moves on the big screen with tons of cameos that will have comic book nerds like myself anticipating the inevitable Avengers film several summers from now. If they keep bringing top talent like Downey, Favreau, and Mickey Rourke to the table, they’ve got my 10 dollars. And hey, it’ll be better than Marmaduke.

May 10, “Lucky Days” premiere at the Coolidge: Angelica Torn, daughter of famed actor Rip Torn, makes her directorial debut with this character study of a thirty-year-old virgin (played by Torn herself) waiting for a proposal from her boyfriend of 18 years. Angelica, Rip, and the cast will conduct a Q and A after the film. If nothing else, I’d be interested to hear Rip explain why he recently attempted to rob a bank.

Daddy Longlegs: A tale of eccentric fatherhood by two up-and-coming filmmakers, graduates of Boston University.

May 20–27, The Safdie Brothers present “Daddy Longlegs” at The Brattle Theatre: Benny and Josh Safdie are two Boston University graduates who have made quite a career for themselves in a short time. They return to Boston to present their film “Daddy Longlegs,” a tale of an odd but lovable father and his relationship with his two children, partially based off the Safdies’s own past. This is a chance to catch two filmmakers who will be big names in American independent cinema in the coming years, and Benny and Josh are always entertaining and insightful about the art of cinema.

May 21-30, Sidney Lumet in the 70’s at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA): The MFA presents some true classics of American cinema by offering this mini-retrospective of Sidney Lumet’s 70’s films. The lineup includes “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Network,” and more, many of which are must-sees for any budding cinephile. At the very least, it’s a chance to glimpse a young Al Pacino in the hands of a true actor’s director. Before he simply yelled in every film he was cast in, there was “Attica!,” and if you don’t know what that means, please check out some of these wonderful films.