Review: 'Tracey Fragments' Is, Well, Fragmented, But At Times Beautiful

“The Tracey Fragments” is going to be polarizing in the blogosphere, we can feel it. Not so much for the splintered film techniques (more on that later), but more because of hot-button topic actress Ellen Page whose role in “Juno,” seemed to provoke a lot of ire of many a blogger and armchair critic who evidently hates teen girls that deign to speak in pop-cultural tones.

No Diablo Cody isn’t with her this time, but instead of playing a 17-18 year old smarmy kid, Page now plays a melodramatic 15 year old with a sarcastic streak – just not as pronounced and not as obnoxiously clever (it’s a different role, not in a different universe, mind you, but knee-jerk reactions claiming the two characters/performances are the same are sure to come).

Page plays Tracey Berkowitz who comes from a broken home and we quickly learn that her little autistic-like brother has gone missing. Her neglectful parents play the blame game and the story then jumps around in time to illustrate her misfit status at school, running away from home in search of her brother, pining for the elusive, aloof cute hipster boy, and going to see her clueless transgendered shrink (who is some nice comic relief).

But the biggest story about ‘Tracey’ is its incredibly and purposefully fragmented presentation. Directed by Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald – once the toast of Canada and without nary at hit in years -, nearly the entire film is shot in a jarring Mondrian-like multiple split screens intended to convey the protagonist’s young fragile psyche. Two cameras were running during most of the film and multiple takes of the same scene are often running out of synch with one another while memories, other sequences, and metaphorical tableauxs play out in other frames simultaneously.

Its not as obnoxious as it sounds, but the technique can be both effective and grating at times and will likely make or break the film for audiences. The performances are strong, the visuals are striking and romantic, the music (Broken Social Scene) is typically evocative yet subtle, and in spite of the dark premise, it’s a lot more funny and playful than it ought to be (there’s a rock n’ roll-like trailer in the middle of the film that introduces Tracey’s uncontrollable teen crush which is pretty great). It also boasts one of the most painful “sex” scenes to watch that we’ve seen in a while that is simultaneously beautiful and sad.

Overall the “fragmented” conceit works and it doesn’t. Thankfully, McDonald’s experimental drama only last 77 minutes so it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. And while it’s not completely the return to form we were hoping from this filmmaker, it is a strong indicator that he’s back and willing to take creative risks at any cost. [-B]