The Tracey Fragments (2008) Movie Information:

The Tracey Fragments (2008) Directed by: Bruce McDonald The Tracey Fragments (2008) Written by: Not available at this time The Tracey Fragments (2008) Cast: Ellen Page, Ari Cohen, Max McCabe-Lokos, Erin McMurtry, Julian Richings

The Tracey Fragments (2008) U.S. Distributor: ThinkFilm The Tracey Fragments (2008) U.K. Distributor: Not available at this time

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The Tracey Fragments (2008) Synopsis:

Based on screenwriter Maureen Medved's novel of the same name, "The Tracey Fragments" uses highly inventive and dynamic Mondrian-like split screens to tell the story of why 15-year-old Tracey Berkowitz (Page) is riding out a blizzard in the back of a city bus, naked except for the tattered curtain she's wrapped in, and looking for her missing brother (whom she fears she has hypnotized). On screen for nearly every frame of the film, Page delivers a tour-de-force performance that cements her status as one of the most exciting young actresses on screen today.

The Tracey Fragments (2008) Movie Review:

As a pure experimental film, Bruce McDonald’s The Tracey Fragments is outstanding. However, as a narrative film it’s flabby, talkative, and more than anything uninteresting. Canadian filmmaker McDonald’s entire film is composed of multiple split-screen quadrants or fragments shot at different angles to express the thoughts and emotions of a troubled 15-year old girl in Winnipeg. The effect is commendable and is as if the viewer is looking through a kaleidoscope.

The story follows Tracey Berkowitz (Ellen Page), who is psychologically challenged teen that is going through puberty as well as trying to find his lost younger brother Sonny (Zie Souwand). The film opens with a voice over narration stating how she is a normal girl that just hates herself. The audience is introduced to fellow mean high school students, her slacker parents (Ari Cohen, Erin McMurty), as well as her weird shrink (Julian Richings in drag). Tracey hypnotizes her brother to where he believes he is a puppy and then he goes missing. All of this young adolescent’s moods and feelings are exposed through McDonald’s visual techniques.

The layers of fragmented shot selections and scenes are unique and effective by McDonald, choices of experimental filmmaking that will have film students drooling. The split quadrants at times do not offer anything appealing to the plot or character, just an interesting way to watch lead actress Ellen Page deliver lines or actions. Most of the multiple quadrants do play as the character’s thought process. The work by McDonald is undeniably respectable; however, the plot to the film itself is not that great. Based off her novel, writer Maureen Medved’s script is tire and lonesome. The film is barely over 75 minutes long, but the film feels like it drags for two hours. Some of the questions present are answered, while some or not. Though McDonald’s work brings emotional depth to the character of Tracey, one never is torn apart by her dive into madness. Perhaps as short film, The Tracey Fragments would have been a better drama.

Page is a strong lead actress, and delivers some goods with Tracey, but at times she goes a little overboard with her yelling and swearing. She proved she has excellent comedic timing with her Oscar nominated performance in Juno, and though as Tracey she shows some dramatic chops; there are moments where she is lost, maybe due to the script. Julian Richings plays Tracey’s psychiatrist for some reason in drag and Slim Twig is in pure low mood as Tracey’s love interest Billy Zero.

The Tracey Fragments has been named one of the top films of 2007 in Canada and is now being given a limited release in the United States. It is an interesting film, though it has a horrible script. Bruce McDonald took some risks with his fragmented screen choices, and in terms of film, not storytelling, it works. The only other film that comes to mind that has attempted split screen for an entirety of film was Mike Figgis’ Time Code, but it was still totally opposite of what McDonald was conveying to his audience with this film. The Tracey Fragments is a great experiment that may get annoying quick for some, but it is has fresh technical choices and a pretty horrible story.

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The Tracey Fragments (2008) review written by: Bailey Henderson