![]() One of those movies that you get or you don't, nothing in between. This is one of those movies that are a challenge for the viewers, that need of their full awareness and attention, that have a difficult knot to untie, but also one of those movies that can be interpreted in different ways and make your brain produce sparks. I did not like the end, not the way it ended, but how the end was presented and how we get there - what triggers Tracey's epiphany? That is so because the mood of the movie and, most importantly, its tempo were not the right ones. The main idea is brilliant but, since we get mostly Tracey's subjective approach to reality, the rest of the characters are somewhat pointless and can't be trusted by the viewer in fact they are just hinted. ![]() A few important flaws ruined what could have been a great movie. The rest of the cast are OK in their respective roles: Ari Cohen and Erin McMurtry as Mr & Mrs Berkowitz Zie Souwand as sweet Sonny Toronto Songwriter and performer Slim Twigg as jerk Billy Zero, Julain Richings as Dr Heker, among others. That's not only her physique, is the great actress she is. She was 20 when the film was shot, but she is believable as a 15y.o. Ellen Page is fantastic, despite the dramatic demands of her character. The movie is also full of symbolic psychoanalytical elements, from the gender of Tracey's psychiatrist and the settings in which the consultation happens, to the appearance of different animals (a crow, a horse, and "a dog"), to the way the scenes have been patched and shown to the viewer. In other words, Tracey's troubled mind and emotions are directly linked to the way the movie is visually organized. The film is more complex, visually, at the beginning, when Tracey's mind and emotions are more confused, and becomes simpler and more linear at the same pace that Tracey's mind clears, to be completely linear at the end, when she accepts herself and the events related to Sonny. Pay extra attention to the first 15-20 minutes of the film, because they are the most difficult and the ones that really give clues to understand many of the things that happen later on. The non-linear narrative is very challenging. Tracey's memory fragments and thoughts appear in mini-screens within the screen and on split-screen images, which show different angles of the same scene or different scenes altogether. Although this is a movie about teenagers, there is nothing sweet about it, as presents very hard topics: rape, bullying, loneliness, lack of self-esteem, confused self-image, delusional thoughts, insecurity, and mental trouble. This is a very interesting story about a teenager that is not pretty, cleaver or happy. We are drawn into Tracey's chaotic mind and soul, but also towards her path of growth from child to woman, from fairy-tale worlds to harsh reality and acceptance of the self. She has left home, is looking for her missing little brother Sonny and is in trouble. He memory is fragmented, chaotic, fancy, and on a loop. girl on a night bus, covered by a curtain shower, talking directly to you - nonsense. Well, it may be exhausting but when you think of it, wasn't puberty too?! I have seen a lot of movies but this one was actually something new. Even though it was exhausting to pay attention all the time, I'd say the film is worth seeing (if you have the stamina). After a while you get sucked into a world of bullies, disturbed parents, unanswered love, doubts and fantasies, sympathizing more and more with Tracy. It's all just a try to visualize what a teen must have to go through in puberty. Off course, McDonald did this on purpose. So, thus confusing you with just too much information it leaves you overwhelmed with impressions and emotions that are just too plenteous to handle. And the more emotional the protagonist gets, the more fragments appear. There are only rare scenes in which there are less then 3 fragments to be seen on screen. The film consists of hundreds of fragments of pictures, each showing different perspectives of the same moment mixing up reality and thoughts and fantasies of Tracy, the 15-year old protagonist. No wonder, since the director Bruce McDonald took the "Fragment"-part of the title by word. However, according to the director, this film may have been shot in only 14 days but, it took them about nine months to edit it. But after some time, I got into it and even got attached to the girl who everybody just calls "Its". During the first 2 minutes I prepared myself for two hours of overdone artistic cinema. When I was told it was about a 15-year old girl dealing with puberty I wasn't very happy about it. ![]() When I got the tickets I had no idea what it was actually about. I just saw the world premiere of this film at the Berlin Film Festival and I was quite surprised.
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