Is a strong lead performance enough to save an otherwise mediocre film?
In some cases, yes. Take Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote, or Helen
Mirren in The Queen – their brilliant, Oscar-winning turns served to
elevate both flicks into something better than they otherwise might
have been.
But great acting isn’t always enough – Cate Blanchett, for all her talent, couldn’t rescue Elizabeth: The Golden Age from being a dull, overwrought affair, and the same must be said for Ellen Page in Bruce McDonald’s The Tracey Fragments. Page is convincing as an angst-ridden teen determined to locate her missing younger brother, but the film falls flat plot-wise and doesn’t live up to the obvious ambition driving it.
Tracey Fragments isn’t the first film to employ split-screen technology (Mike Figgis did it in Timecode, Brian De Palma uses it in many of his films), but I daresay no other director has ever used it the way he does. Shot digitally over two weeks, McDonald’s film is broken up into multiple frames of various shapes and sizes, fragments, if you will.
Set in Winnipeg, it tells the story of 15-year-old Tracey Berkowitz (Page), a self-described normal girl who hates herself. We see her riding on the back of an otherwise empty city bus in the middle of the night, wrapped in a shower curtain. The story is told out of sequence but the gist of the plot is this – Tracey feels responsible for losing her younger brother Sonny (Zie Souwand) and is determined to do whatever it takes, however dangerous, to find him before a coming winter storm.
Sonny is pretty much the only good thing in Tracey’s life – her parents are a wreck, the cross-dressing therapist they’ve sent her to (because they’re convinced she’s the one with the problems) isn’t doing much for her state of mind, and the kids at school taunt her relentlessly, referring to her as “It” most of the time. The only other person Tracey cares for is high school bad boy Billy Zero (Slim Twig), and parts of the film show her elaborate romantic fantasies about him. Sadly it’s that weakness for Billy that leads to the Sonny tragedy, as we find out in the film’s final act.
A scene from The Tracey Fragments
I can appreciate what McDonald was trying to do with Tracey Fragments, based on the Maureen Medved novel, and there were times when the multi-frame thing worked, but considering the plot was mixed up as well the whole thing felt like an impenetrable jumble more often than not. And aside from Tracey, there weren’t many characters to like in the film. British character actor Julian Richings, he of the distinct, almost skeletal face, provided some much needed comic relief as Tracey’s therapist Dr. Heker.
The story itself wasn’t terribly satisfying, meandering along in a drab and fairly lifeless way, which makes me wonder whether the movie would have succeeded without the added split-screen frustration. My guess is no. (It should be noted though that McDonald has launched a contest that challenges filmmakers to recut his film, giving them access to all the footage. Check out the details here.)
The only saving grace, as mentioned before, is Page. She’s an immensely talented young actress and gives her all to this role. Already noticed for her work in Hard Candy and the soon-to-be-released Juno, she’s seems poised to hit the big time.
As for McDonald, well, Tracey Fragments is far from his best work (for that check out Roadkill, Highway 61, and Hard Core Logo), but it’s cool to see him trying new things and making movies again.
Posted by Cate Jones
Agree? Disagree? Email Cate at criticizecate@gmail.com
The Tracey Fragments (** out of 5)
Rated: 14A
Starring: Ellen Page, Ari Cohen, Julian Richings, Zie Souwand
Directed by: Bruce McDonald
Written by: Maureen Medved
Related links: Official site, IMDB page
Comments