REVIEW: The Tracey Fragments (2007)
The Tracey Fragments
Rated: R
Runtime: 77 minutes
Starring: Ellen Page.
My rating: 2.5 stars
Your Rating (Click stars to rate):
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Very few people will like this movie. I am still not sure if I do, but I’m leaning toward liking it.
Tracey (Ellen Page) is “just a normal girl who hates herself.” We meet her on a bus, wrapped in a shower curtain, yelling profanities at us. She is insane, we think.
The Tracey Fragments plays like Memento does, but with a lot more editing. We’re inside of Tracey’s head as she bounces between present, past and fantasy.
Director Bruce McDonald chooses to show each scene in a collage of moving pictures, often capturing multiple angles of the situation. Sometimes the different boxes are lagging behind the present action, I assume as if it’s instantly being replayed and comprehended in Tracey’s mind.
The on-screen result is a fragmented view of Tracey’s life. This must be how she sees it.
Tracey’s brother, Sonny, who she hypnotized into thinking he is a dog, is missing. Her parents blame her for his disappearance. She runs away to go find him. We learn what actually happened and how he went missing at the end.
The Tracey Fragments is hard to watch and harder to decipher. A second viewing is almost required.
I think the movie takes place inside Tracey’s head, but I can’t be sure. We are presented relapsed memories of her brother, her parents and therapy sessions. We play out fantasies in her head that mess with our understanding of the events.
The editing of The Tracey Fragments is unique and gutsy. The fragmented images force the audience to pick and choose what it wants to watch. The effect is almost like our own memories. We don’t actually recall the exact details of any event; we take portions and form something else. This film is presented in a way that makes us watch it from Tracey’s pieced-together memories. It’s interesting, but I don’t think that effective.
It took a lot of effort to get through a number of the scenes. At the end, I felt I needed a nap. The movie takes a lot out of you, mentally, but not a lot emotionally. That’s where I think it fails and why most people won’t like it.
The Tracey Fragments is a mental exercise, but doesn’t tug at the heart. The story, which is an adaptation of the Maureen Medved novel by the same name, fails to pull us in because we’re too focused on figuring out what’s going on in each scene.
It was also hard to care about Tracey. She is a depressed child who is teased by classmates daily. She fantasizes about boys she can’t have and things she can’t do. Sonny is lovable and we can feel sad he disappeared, but his boyhood innocence isn’t enough to save the movie.
Page is great, as usual. She is an actress who never chooses an ordinary teen role. Her filmography is stunning. The Tracey Fragments comes after Hard Candy (Creepy and great), Mouth to Mouth (Dirty, weird, and all right), and An American Crime (Strange, true, devastating and brilliant). Her movies are often deeply serious and shocking. Most are difficult to watch, especially her independent choices. I recommend anything she is in. At the very least, it will be a fascinating topic.
I give The Tracey Fragments 2.5 stars. It’s interesting enough to be watched, but not good enough to be remembered.
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