BUY IT AT AMAZON: CLICK HERE!
STUDIO: Image Entertainment
MSRP: $27.98
RATED: R
RUNNING TIME: 77 min
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
- Theatrical Trailer
- The Single Frame Photo Slideshow
- Tracey: Re-fragmented Winning Contest Entries
THE PITCH
Ellen Page goes on Canadian trek for Dog Boy.
THE HUMANS
Ellen Page, Slim Twig, Julian Richings, Kate Todd and Ari Cohen
It happened in a model home outside of the city. I went there to see a friend and I met his uncle. His name’s GOB or something. For the next two hours, he had one hand in me and one hand in something he called Franklin.
THE NUTSHELL
The Tracey Fragments tells the story of misunderstood Tracey Berkowitz. She hypnotized her younger brother into believing that he was a dog. Right before the start of a blizzard, the dog boy runs away from home. Against all odds, Tracey must set out to rescue him. She doesn’t really do it, but you get to hear a fifteen year old Canuck talk about semen.
Full House only lasted for six episodes in Canada. Stephanie’s character arc came to a sudden and shocking end when Mr. Bear told her to end the world. Look, I know that has balls to do with the image above. But, you try making heads or tails out of this shit.
THE LOWDOWN
Experimental film has no place in North America. Well, that seems to be the standard movie-going consensus. So, I expect to see quite a few puzzled faces in the nation’s video stores, as they settle down with a new release starring that nice Juno girl. Originally released in Canada last year, the creative team behind this film dared to dream that a multi-frame flick could exist on the open market. Hell, they even released the film in torrent files to see who could resemble it.
Sadly, I don’t have the time to do such things. The DVD offers up a chance to watch the film in a linear fashion, but I wanted to honor the director’s original intention. I guess that was my mistake. Oh well, live and learn.
The Matrix just got fruity.
The Tracey Fragments is less of a straight story and more about a look into the fracture psyche of a teenage girl. Ellen Page does amazing work with the material. It’s just that there isn’t much to it outside of the pondering and positioning before the camera. At times, it’s quite painful as the other actors seem to be forced into a concession effort to keep throwing the focus back onto Tracey. It works in small doses, but it becomes trite by the last reel.
But, there’s a carefully built nest out there for the people who want emotional cinema. Don’t confuse this film with anything cerebral, The Tracey Fragments lies carefully in the realm of blind emotion. There’s no straight storytelling and there’s no reason. If you can find entertainment in that, then you’re either mentally deranged or high. Maybe, that’s what I needed to enjoy this film. A big heaping bag of high-quality pot.
Blurrier than porn, nowhere near as fun.
THE PACKAGE
The Tracey Fragments arrives on DVD with barely there special features. You get the usual commentary and production ass-kissery. The problem with the director’s commentary is that there’s too much of an appreciation of the aesthetic. There weren’t a ton of valuable answers about why they even chose the interesting narrative reworking. The other special features were vapid fluff.
The A/V Quality is all over the place. We start off with some really crisp D.P. work and then the fragmenting starts to happen. I know that cinematographers love to play with stock when they’re first starting out. But, the student film look got to be a little much. I’m not usually a hardcore stickler for visual quality. But, the disc is embarrasing in terms of visual. It’s so bad, that I wouldn’t recommend watching it on a screen bigger than thirty-six inches.
The biggest fault of The Tracey Fragments is that it tried way too hard. It’s not a crime to want to take the misunderstood teen story and flip it on its head. It’s just that when you spend so much time going on about the details and less about the journey, we tend to get left in the dark. Being in the dark for too long on this film killed any enjoyment for me. Needless to say, I can’t recommend it.
Juno 2: A Coathanger and a Dream