Ellen Page received an Oscar nomination for "Juno." While her role as a pregnant teen is the one most people will know her for, it is her turn as Tracey Berkowitz in "The Tracey Fragments" which should be recognized. Yes, her sarcastic, droll, pop-culture happy Juno won the hearts of audiences and critics yet lacked a certain depth; Tracey, on the other hand, is required to run the gamut of emotions as well as keep a fragmented-pardon the pun-film afloat.
Tracey Berkowitz has a problem: she has hypnotized her younger brother Sonny into thinking he is a dog. In and of itself, this is a small problem. But when she leaves her house despite being grounded, prompting Sonny to follow her, a series of events is put into motion. The young boy goes missing, Tracey leaves home permanently and has sex with the boy of her dreams, among other sordid situations.
Even if the narrative leaves something to be desired, I will give style points-to an extent-to director Bruce McDonald for having the audacity to create a visually provocative film. Aside from the events being out of order, each episode in Tracey´s life is relayed to us as she might remember it: in pieces scattered here, there and everywhere in between. By presenting each element of the story outside of its actual context, McDonald fairly effectively replicates the way in which we remember. Very rarely is it in linear form; rather, it is sporadic, choppy and exaggerated to our own point of view.
To that end, nearly every memory scene is played in several different frames on the screen, akin to the style convention on "24" and, to a lesser extent, to Ang Lee´s "Hulk." When one or two frames focus on telling the story, the others center on objects in the room. It allows the action to play out in continuous takes with detail still being presented. By using this technique, McDonald adds to the pastiche feeling of the production.
And aside from Page, who portrays an array of emotions in "The Tracey Fragments," there isn´t much else to recommend. By presenting the story out of continuity, it is difficult to get a handle on it until late in the production. Thus, we never develop an affinity for any supporting character or even the ordeal Tracey herself goes through. We only have Page´s performance to ground us in the narrative. We often forget Page is only 21 years old and yet is cast as a teenager, not to mention younger characters. She has a natural affinity for being the odd one out, so to speak. There is no pretension in her performance, only a professionalism and artistic mastery on display.
It is because she remains grounded through the entire film the production doesn´t completely run off the rails. Oh, but it tries. The visual style I mentioned a minute ago? Unique, but tired. Fun, but completely overused. Yes, I understand it feeds into the theme of the movie (the fragmentation of memory and how that affects a person). I even applaud McDonald for taking on the added filing and editing burden to make his vision come to fruition. It just happens to be too much from start to finish.
Then there´s the story, or what passes as a story here. Based on a novel by Maureen Medved, I would assume the narrative device of vignettes coming together to form a more perfect whole works better on the page. Why? They could be broken down into specific chapters, as opposed to running into one another in film form. There needs to be a clear delineation between the first "fragment" (as each chapter is called here) and the next so we know its time to move on to something different. All we end up getting is a run on scene spanning the length of the movie.
There is an added component I haven´t mention yet: the inability of the plot to maintain the truth. Again, I will grant memory is an odd and imperfect thing. It distorts what we remember, exaggerating certain parts and adding a layer of fantasy to each event. However, when a film is dealing with the issue of memories, especially when they are put together out of order, there needs to be an understanding between the product and the audience that what is presented will be honest to what has come before. We can´t have Tracey daydreaming about Billy Zero (Slim Twig) rescuing her and then, by the end of the film, pushing her out of a car. It brings everything else we witness into question, in essence telling us to ask "what is real?"
And for a film demanding the audience pay attention to every major and minor character, it´s unfair to throw another layer to decipher on the screen. (It should be noted that the daydream sequences are tinted differently, normally a tip off, if every other scene had been presented without manipulation. They aren´t.)
Ellen Page received an Oscar nomination for "Juno." While her role as a pregnant teen is the one most people will know her for, it is her turn as Tracey Berkowitz in "The Tracey Fragments" which should be recognized. Yes, her sarcastic, droll, pop-culture happy Juno won the hearts of audiences and critics yet lacked a certain depth; Tracey, on the other hand, is required to run the gamut of emotions as well as keep a fragmented-pardon the pun-film afloat.
Tracey Berkowitz has a problem: she has hypnotized her younger brother Sonny into thinking he is a dog. In and of itself, this is a small problem. But when she leaves her house despite being grounded, prompting Sonny to follow her, a series of events is put into motion. The young boy goes missing, Tracey leaves home permanently and has sex with the boy of her dreams, among other sordid situations.
Even if the narrative leaves something to be desired, I will give style points-to an extent-to director Bruce McDonald for having the audacity to create a visually provocative film. Aside from the events being out of order, each episode in Tracey´s life is relayed to us as she might remember it: in pieces scattered here, there and everywhere in between. By presenting each element of the story outside of its actual context, McDonald fairly effectively replicates the way in which we remember. Very rarely is it in linear form; rather, it is sporadic, choppy and exaggerated to our own point of view.
To that end, nearly every memory scene is played in several different frames on the screen, akin to the style convention on "24" and, to a lesser extent, to Ang Lee´s "Hulk." When one or two frames focus on telling the story, the others center on objects in the room. It allows the action to play out in continuous takes with detail still being presented. By using this technique, McDonald adds to the pastiche feeling of the production.
And aside from Page, who portrays an array of emotions in "The Tracey Fragments," there isn´t much else to recommend. By presenting the story out of continuity, it is difficult to get a handle on it until late in the production. Thus, we never develop an affinity for any supporting character or even the ordeal Tracey herself goes through. We only have Page´s performance to ground us in the narrative. We often forget Page is only 21 years old and yet is cast as a teenager, not to mention younger characters. She has a natural affinity for being the odd one out, so to speak. There is no pretension in her performance, only a professionalism and artistic mastery on display.
It is because she remains grounded through the entire film the production doesn´t completely run off the rails. Oh, but it tries. The visual style I mentioned a minute ago? Unique, but tired. Fun, but completely overused. Yes, I understand it feeds into the theme of the movie (the fragmentation of memory and how that affects a person). I even applaud McDonald for taking on the added filing and editing burden to make his vision come to fruition. It just happens to be too much from start to finish.
Then there´s the story, or what passes as a story here. Based on a novel by Maureen Medved, I would assume the narrative device of vignettes coming together to form a more perfect whole works better on the page. Why? They could be broken down into specific chapters, as opposed to running into one another in film form. There needs to be a clear delineation between the first "fragment" (as each chapter is called here) and the next so we know its time to move on to something different. All we end up getting is a run on scene spanning the length of the movie.
There is an added component I haven´t mention yet: the inability of the plot to maintain the truth. Again, I will grant memory is an odd and imperfect thing. It distorts what we remember, exaggerating certain parts and adding a layer of fantasy to each event. However, when a film is dealing with the issue of memories, especially when they are put together out of order, there needs to be an understanding between the product and the audience that what is presented will be honest to what has come before. We can´t have Tracey daydreaming about Billy Zero (Slim Twig) rescuing her and then, by the end of the film, pushing her out of a car. It brings everything else we witness into question, in essence telling us to ask "what is real?"
And for a film demanding the audience pay attention to every major and minor character, it´s unfair to throw another layer to decipher on the screen. (It should be noted that the daydream sequences are tinted differently, normally a tip off, if every other scene had been presented without manipulation. They aren´t.)
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