The Tracey Fragments (2007)

Very Cool!!!

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The Tracey Fragments 2/11/2010The way this film is presented is like nothing you've seen before! Canadian director Bruce McDonald's experiment in film-making is a pretty wild ride to watch. The film is played out in several different fragmented scenes that are all playing at once. It really puts you into the mind of the main character Tracey Berkowitz, played perfectly by a yet undiscovered Ellen Page.Tracey Berkowitz is as she states "just a normal girl that hates herself". She is a rebellious outsider who gets mercilessly picked on at school (mainly by the girls). They refer to her as "it" because of her androgynous look. The story revolves around her search for her odd little brother Sonny. We first see Tracey in the back of a city bus wrapped in a shower curtain, talking about her life. It is the middle of the night in winter. Just how did she get to this point? Her parents are always at odds with her. When she gets in trouble at school for mouthing off to a teacher she is grounded and forced to watch Sonny. The scenes with her psychologist are quite strange in the fact that even though Dr. Hecker is supposed to be a woman it is obviously played by man. This further reinforces the idea that the movie is based on Tracey's thoughts, feeling and point of view. She has also some how convinced Sonny to act like a dog the whole time. They go outside and run around in woods and snow when Tracey sees her new crush Billy Zero drive up to her. This scene is shown towards the end of the movie, but is the event that puts the whole story in motion. While searching for Sonny she runs into numerous low life characters, most notably Lance from Toronto, who say's he has seen Sonny. They go back to his apartment and he seems to be a nice guy, but what's his angle? Tracey starts to get in over her head when a tough guy comes looking for Lance and Tracey is caught in the middle. She barely escapes with his life and we find out why she is riding the bus wrapped in a shower curtain. Tracey's world is cold, brutal, and unforgiving. All the people seem out to get her, while the only person that really accepts her for who she is, is her brother. The end result of the story is very heartbreaking and disturbing, but the way we get there is very interesting and entertaining. Tracey's character follows a long line of people who live in the margins of life and are happy to be by themselves and live life on her own terms. Ellen page totally owns this role, and is kind of similar to her break out role in "Juno". This is definitely a movie that has to be experienced.

The Tracey Fragments is a dark Canadian film starring Ellen Page directed by Bruce McDonald. It's about 15 year old Tracey Berkowitz who is trying to find her brother after she hypnotized him into thinking he was a dog. The movie is non-linear and sorts through Tracey's memories. It's rated MA15+, for the F word being said every few lines, and a few scenes little kids might find 'creepy'.The underlying story is something we've all seen before, but the execution of the plot in terms of time line is addictive, interesting and original. We really get a good look inside Tracey's head, which I find fascinating. There are too many paper-flat characters out there. The script is very tight, well written (Tracey's rants in the bus are quirky, amusing and at times powerfully poetic), the events are a lot of things we haven't seen before... it's generally entertaining and intriguing. My only problem with the script is the over-usage of swearing. I understand Tracey is in a dodgy place, and is angry, but honestly, do you guys really have to drop the F bomb every sentence? 8/10The presentation of the film is gorgeous- the clothes, colors, sets... Take a look at any screen shot- it's beautiful, stunning- fantastically done. My only complaint is some scenes looked too dark. 9/10There is a definite sense of character. They're all human, as cruel or eccentric as they turn out to be. Of course, Tracey is the best developed character, but it's clear that the writer put some thought into the others, as minimalist as it may be. I remember their names. That counts for something. 8/10The music is eerie enough. It fits the color scheme they were going for, but sometimes I felt something more powerful would have been fitting. Sometimes it's hard to tell there's even music going on. 6/10Ellen Page is someone I look up to. Her ability to be completely immersed in a character and portray completely realistic, believable, raw emotion is breath taking to me. It sounds real- her whimpers of fear in the scene near the end, or the scene in the telephone booth send chills up my spine. The others are decent actors too, but they don't get to show off their ability so much. 9/10Seems like a perfect movie, right? WRONG. I agree the split screen effect gets extremely frustrating. I completely understand what the creator is trying to do, and for the first 20 minutes or so I thought "What is everyone complaining about? There's nothing wrong with the split screen effect" but the more the film went on, the more I found myself really wishing they'd show us scenes normally- so we could see the detail in the shot- I know the director probably wanted us to feel this way. Tracey is annoyed- the viewer is annoyed/exhausted... etc. In a sense, we are Tracey in her mind... but some scenes I thought "Why would she be in a confused state of mind here?". Yes, I agree with many users that this was the films drawback. There were many scenes where I didn't have a clue what was going on because of the way it was filmed (done on purpose?) but ... GAH! In the words of Tracey Berkowtiz "F you, f you, f you!" F you directors! 4/10What annoyed me even more was that the Behind the Scenes Feature was done in split screen also. What the heck!? GIVE MY EYES A BREAK! I also got annoyed when I found out that all the "Tracey ReFragmented" winners were just really short clips. A few of the entries (on the official website, hosted by Youtube) are the entire film in one screen. Why couldn't they put one of those on the DVD as well? I don't want to be wasting internet money watching a horrible quality Youtube version of the movie!!!I reckon they need to re-release the DVD as a "collectors edition" and have one of those entries on there! PLEASE? Millions of fans are begging you!So that makes an average score of: 7.3/10It's a shame because I could be rating it 9/10 if they put a freaking VERSION OF THE MOVIE IN ONE/TWO SCREENS ON THE DVD!!!

http://eattheblinds.blogspot.comYou can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. As of late, this phrase has been front-page headlines for all the wrong reasons, but regardless, the meaning behind it stays the same. For all intents and purposes, Bruce McDonald's The Tracey Fragments is a melodrama of After-School Special proportions, regardless of how hard the director (and his editor) try to dress it up as something more profound. Fragmented images act as multiple windows, forming an endlessly elaborate collage, peering into the dark recesses of 15 year-old Tracey Berkowitz's life and mind. This technique has been around for decades, it's origins forever tied to the annals of experimental film-making. Long before Bruce McDonald, the work of Stan Brakhage (the most prolific and famed of all experimentalists) was co-opted by music videos directors who made famous the disjointed, stylistic flourishes common to MTV in the 1980's. TTF looks and feels more like a music video than a conventional narrative film and since most kids who grew up on music videos have come of age, stylistically TTF cannot define itself as anything new.But amidst a mine field of cookie cutter Hollywood films, TTF does manage to distinguish itself as something more than the melodrama it merely is. If you can make it through the first 20-minutes you'll be rewarded, since at this point there seems to be a departure from the conventions of story telling into the hyper-personal, interior realm of a 15 year-old kid struggling with herself, her family and the unforgiving world around her. This portrayal may be framed within the plot driven melodrama, but McDonald reaches beyond plot by emphasizing the impressionistic quality of the visual collage he has painstakingly cobbled together. This is when the film becomes interesting, when the visuals take over and expand the film watching experience into something haunting and poetic. The dreariness and drab of Tracey's lower-class life transcends into something beautiful as each frame of her collage acts as a window into her soul. Ultimately, TTF's greatest asset is it's ability to effectively portray the mixed up mind of a teenager who is desperately trying to make sense of her world. We've all been there and we've all lived it, now you can relive the experience only this time, without the acne scars.

An exercise in experimental cinema. The director is too busy experimenting with nifty editing techniques and an unusual visual style rather than focusing on telling a cohesive and interesting narrative. The director's visual tricks aren't even as effective as the director probably wants them to be. At the beginning the movie the visuals are come off as genuinely unique. By the end of the visual tricks become repetitive, annoying and irritating.I'm usually fine with abstract, indirect, non-linear storytelling, but to keep my attention it has to be at least mildly interesting. Ellen Page is decent, but she isn't given enough to do.My patience was tested while watching this tedious production.