The Tracey Fragments
THINKFilm | Release Date: May 9, 2008
8.1
USER SCORE
Universal acclaim based on 142 Ratings
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Positive:
115
Mixed:
1
Negative:
26
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User Reviews

User scoreBy dateMost helpful
3
JayH.Jul 1, 2008
As much as I like Ellen Page, I did not like her in this, nor did I like the movie. The split screens is pretentious tripe in an effort to show originality and style, instead it is irritating and pointless. The gritty cinematography is no As much as I like Ellen Page, I did not like her in this, nor did I like the movie. The split screens is pretentious tripe in an effort to show originality and style, instead it is irritating and pointless. The gritty cinematography is no help. I didn't care about the characters nor what happened in the movie. I have to agree with the critics on this one.… Expand
1 of 2 users found this helpful
10
measleschipJun 14, 2009
Totally awesome. I was in a bad mood but this weirdly negative movie cheered me up with its unusual world. Its def tubular.
1 of 2 users found this helpful
8
SeanE.Jul 7, 2008
Not perfect but it is a visual storytelling experiment that succeeds. Get through some of the high school journal moments in the begining and you'll find a moving piece of work from Page and a McDonald. It's a movie that has stuck Not perfect but it is a visual storytelling experiment that succeeds. Get through some of the high school journal moments in the begining and you'll find a moving piece of work from Page and a McDonald. It's a movie that has stuck with me months after seeing it.… Expand
0 of 1 users found this helpful
10
JoeP.Jul 19, 2009
Great metaphors, story's deeper than it seems.
0 of 1 users found this helpful
8
ChadS.Jul 9, 2008
Form and content vie for the viewer's scrutiny in "The Tracey Fragments", as Ellen Page, the poster child for propagandizing teen pregnancy, stars in this micro-indie from Canada about a runaway girl who combs the unforgiving city by Form and content vie for the viewer's scrutiny in "The Tracey Fragments", as Ellen Page, the poster child for propagandizing teen pregnancy, stars in this micro-indie from Canada about a runaway girl who combs the unforgiving city by twilight for her missing younger brother. Page, to her credit, never gets lost in the movie's anarchy in the frame, as the filmmaker treats the screen and film language like a mad semiotician. Picking up where Mike Figgis left off, this celluloidal offspring of "Time Code", forces the viewer to be a co-creator, a vicarious editor who chooses and orders the boxes in a sequential order of his own making. But rather than project four instances of simultaneous time like Figgis' groundbreaking film from 2000, "The Tracey Fragments" covers the same interior(or exterior space) of the moment from different angles, distances, and perspectives with sometimes one to five cameras, and sometimes more. If two characters are isolated in their own separate box, the viewer is given the agency to create his/her own shot/reverse shot editing strategy. If the person's filmic sensibilities lean more on the European side, the eyes train on the speaker and the listener in unbroken simultaneity. "The Tracey Fragments" transforms your living room into an editing bay. Sometimes the choices the film offers can also have an effect on the space-time continuum. As Tracey Berkowitz rides the bus in a box on the top half of the screen, her memory is visualized beneath her seated self in its own separate boxes. If your attention wanders from Tracey's argument with Lance(Maxwell McCabe-Lokos) to Tracey on the bus, the girl's time with the homeless drifter plays like a flashback. But if you disregard the top half of the screen, her fight with Lance remains in the present tense. Form wins in "The Tracey Fragments", but content is no slouch either. Page gives a brave performance as a young girl who wears her heart on her sleeve, and that sleeve is bleeding. She wants a functional family. She wants to fit in at school. She wants a boyfriend. She has none of these things. Her life is one big, festering wound. The black screen is like a skin, and under this skin is life, Tracey's life. The three boxes that puncture the black screen look like cuts. Tracey doesn't bleed, but the film does it for her. Her life is like one constant flow of blood, mermaid's blood.… Expand
0 of 1 users found this helpful
10
GerbilfunJun 14, 2009
Incredible. I prefer the screens not to be split. I'm sure thus movie would be much more like able if it went a traditional route on that decision bit I got past it. The dialogue is different and rough but I like it. Its very figurative Incredible. I prefer the screens not to be split. I'm sure thus movie would be much more like able if it went a traditional route on that decision bit I got past it. The dialogue is different and rough but I like it. Its very figurative and it definatly makes you think. I like the story about a girl hating herself trying to live and explain things in her negative eyes. Great movie, very unusual. Ellen page is the best actress I have ever seen.… Expand
0 of 1 users found this helpful
10
lilbeepJun 14, 2009
Ellen page was good in Juno and resly great in hard candy but in this, she was astonishingly incredible. She has so much range and I give this a ten on her performance alone. The movie itself was half as good so I would say its amazing.
0 of 1 users found this helpful
10
johnnysJun 14, 2009
Risky but well worth it.
0 of 1 users found this helpful
10
hugecookieJun 14, 2009
Really great. It really impressed me with the rawness of the whole film. Really felt intense and exhausted by the end but overrall very much worth it.
0 of 1 users found this helpful
10
abcdefghJun 14, 2009
Great. Amazing. Fantastic. Awesome. Superb. Complete bliss. Perfect. The best. Euphoric. My favorite.
0 of 1 users found this helpful
2
moviegrabbagJun 12, 2011
This movie was clearly just the work of a director who thought he was better then he really is. The editing was just annoying, trying to be artsy and new but just ended up giving me a headache. Ellen Page is a far better actress then tisThis movie was clearly just the work of a director who thought he was better then he really is. The editing was just annoying, trying to be artsy and new but just ended up giving me a headache. Ellen Page is a far better actress then tis movie makes her out to be and I feel that again that falls on the director. If I hadn't seen other works by Ellen Page I would have put this on her. The fragmented scenes and the choppy story-line where clever at first but quickly made the movie confusing and weird. There were also a bunch of scenes that were not needed in the least and where obviously there for nothing more then padding. Please read some of my other reviews at http://moviegrabbag.blogspot.com/… Expand
0 of 4 users found this helpful04
All this user's reviews
9
DanielF.May 5, 2008
One of those films that is sure to change the landscape of filmmaking in the next few years. show in 2 weeks and edited over 7 months, this film takes the titular 'fragments' seriously. It's a mindfuck of a film that draws you One of those films that is sure to change the landscape of filmmaking in the next few years. show in 2 weeks and edited over 7 months, this film takes the titular 'fragments' seriously. It's a mindfuck of a film that draws you in and plays will all kinds of preconceived notions of what you can get out of independent cinema. An exciting step forward for cinema in general, and shows the wondrous talents of Ellen Page and Canadian film stalwart Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo, Highway 61). It's sure to rile some audiences, but it's a necessary viewing for anyone looking for something new.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
CalK.May 6, 2008
Page is incredible. See it just for her.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
9
PeteC.May 11, 2008
A mesmerising, bleak and stunningly executed mind fuck from start to finish with a beautiful score, and a blinding performance from Page, this is definately recommended, but be aware this is disturbing and affecting stuff.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
AlexZ.May 19, 2008
This was a great film that will turn many people off. But if you like independent cinema, give this a try.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
peoplefightthegovernmentJun 14, 2009
So good I peed my pants. Personally I thought the split screens were genius. You really felt what ellen pages character was feeling which was brilliantly acted.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
meikolJun 14, 2009
Immensely impressive on all aspects of the movie. The acting=stupendous the directing=great the story=interesting the movie=like the best independent movie I have seen in years.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
fellonyouJun 14, 2009
Amazing, startling, unlike anything I have seen in a movie. Truly on of the best.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
cornmayoJun 14, 2009
Didn't expect want I saw. I was incredibly irritated with the split images but then it sunk in and it was invisible because I got caught in the movie. Dialogue is crazy, literally. Great movie, highly recommended.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
CineArtJan 25, 2018
I'm not surprised that this film brings the controversial opinions and critics about itself. And I'm not sure what a director of "The Tracey Fragments" exactly wanted to tell us, because in art, sometimes, the spectators are also creators ofI'm not surprised that this film brings the controversial opinions and critics about itself. And I'm not sure what a director of "The Tracey Fragments" exactly wanted to tell us, because in art, sometimes, the spectators are also creators of a whole picture or idea of an art piece. This is the case... So it's my personal analysis and messages I've got. The movie doesn't have a structure in a normal usual sense, you have the choices: to what you give your attention and in which way or ways the story will open itself to you. You have a mixup of two perspectives of view: Tracey's and your own. Actually, we inside Tracey's mind. The picture isn't truly cinematographic, but very artistic and realistic, there wasn't much of special effects, only the view that could be captured by eyes. I've experienced the hurricane that a "normal teenage girl" have in her brain during a hard period of life. It was intuitive, naive, delusional and almost insane. You can't be focused on something, you don't have a main line, no one gives you the conclusions, you don't have any issues, you are just fourteen and you want to be loved, you need someone with unconditional loyalty to you, at least "bark, BARK". Your romantic illusions was crashed. Wait. You'll be abused, you'll be treated like a trash... No doubt you will. But you must to keep going to get through... Just keep going, no matter what.

And yes, now you know: you can make a film even only with your phone. A big maximum is a drone for the expositions. For me, the tools used by Bruce McDonald have worked. 10 points from 10… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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