The tracey fragments
Despite the visual emphasis, film owes much of its energy to its persistent soundtrack, and comes most alive when using Patti Smith’s American punk classic “Horses.” Tech credits are strong. 15-year-old Tracey Berkowitz is naked under a shower curtain at the back of a bus, looking for her little brother Sonny, who. HD and 35mm lensing is dominated by a blue-tinged grunge look. Only occasionally does the constellation of images congeal into something that is memorable.
In its application of split-screen, pic is more relentless than most of its antecedents, including Andy Warhol’s “Chelsea Girls” or Mike Figgis’s “Timecode.” More often than not, the procedure is just plain irritating. Supporting actors nail the caricatures McDonald was seeking, but effect does cast no favors.ĭespite the substantial effort required for a helmer and his team (conceptual design is credited to co-editor Jeremiah Munce) to mount such a multifaceted narrative, pic is no more successful than most split-screen films, which rarely work to the sustained satisfaction of an audience.
Page is generally commanding as the self-pitying teenager, but there are several moments when, let down by the text, the young thesp obviously does not believe what she is saying. Heker (Julian Richings), who is as clearly as much a part of the dysfunctional system around Tracey as her parents are. She only has two sources of help: her glam-rock fantasies about the new boy at school, Billy Zero (Slim Twig), and her man-in-drag therapist Dr. The narrative, which only intermittently travels in a straight line, is supposed to represent Tracey’s confused mind. Most images of Sonny, however, are memories, as the boy has gone missing, and much of the film is taken up with Tracey’s haphazard search for him. Tracey’s voiceover informs auds that she hypnotized her tweener brother Sonny (Zie Souwand) into believing he is a dog. She’s tormented by girls and boys alike at school primarily for being flat-chested, while at home she has an angry, unsuccessful father (Ari Cohen) and a booze- and drug-addled mom (Erin McMurty). It also will be released on DVD July 8th.Tracey Berkowitz (“Hard Candy’s” Ellen Page), in her own words, is an average teenage girl who hates herself. (Movie is showing at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston from Tuesday July 1st through Sunday July 6th. The Tracey Fragments Split-screen techniques fail to hide a paucity of content and a piecemeal narrative in 'The Tracey Fragments,' the latest offering from vet Canadian indie helmer Bruce McDonald. She’s mostly effective, when her director isn’t getting in her way. The actors are fine, but it’s really all about Page, who’s in nearly every scene. As an unforgettable portrait of a teenager on the verge of imploding, The Tracey Fragments has been compared to The Catcher in the Rye with a style. She develops a thing for Billy Zero, a new student, imagining he's her boyfriend. We watch Tracey navigate high school, friendless, picked on and teased. In flashbacks and fragments, we meet her overbearing parents and the sweet, clueless Sonny. Here he’s too self-indulgent with the split-screen stuff, lessening the impact of the tale. Tracey Berkowitz, 15, a self-described normal girl, loses her 9-year old brother, Sonny. Director McDonald is an indie vet (Roadkill, Highway 61) who’s spent most of the last 15 or so years directing Canadian television. When her 9-year-old brother Sonny goes missing, Tracey runs away from home to try to find him, encountering street characters and the underbelly of society along the way. Tracey’s kept going by her glam-rock fantasies about the new boy in school, Billy Zero.
Luchando con un padre violento y una madre deprimida que consume drogas y televisión con frenesí, debe velar por su hermano menor Sonny, a quien a veces impone sesiones de hipnosis. The movie attempts to show her in an emotional and mental tailspin, as she’s tormented by classmates, and badgered by her frustrated father and wacko-addict mother. Tracey, una adolescente de 15 años, sentada en la parte trasera de un autobús, desnuda debajo de una cortina de baño, recuerda las circunstancias que llevaron a esta singular situación. Tracey’s a typical 15-year-old girl, we’re told typical because she hates herself. Video Release: July 8th, 2008 by Velocity/ThinkFilm, released as Tracey Fragments, The MPAA Rating: R for strong language throughout, some sexual content and. “Fragments” is an apt term for this extravaganza of split-screen technique, used way too much, probably in response to the relative lack of story. It’s of interest primarily because of it-girl Page, late of last year’s Juno and this year’s Smart People. Canadian film made the festival circuit last year and had a limited release in May. 15-year-old Tracey Berkowitz (Ellen Page) is naked under a tattered shower curtain at the back of a bus, looking for her little brother.