Review of The Tracey Fragments (2007) by Adam S — 04 Aug 2008

Just a caveat before I start: I was only half paying attention when I watched this. While that is a discredit to the film because it didn't keep my focus, I might force myself to watch this again more closely in the future. But for now, this is what I thought.

I applaud filmmakers for having the balls to do something different in film stylistically. Heck, I'm all about expirementation in art. However, I felt that the makers of the Tracey Fragments thought they had a novel idea when really the concept had kinda been done before. So, in the end, this film came across as quite pretentious. It tries to seem dark and confusing when really its quite simplistic.

There is no real story to speak of. Ellen Page's character might as well have just come out at the beginning of the film and said, "Look at me, I'm an angry person going about my boring life being angry. By the end of this film, you won't know me or any of the other characters any better than you do now but you will acclaim the film because we tell you that it's art." Then we all could have saved ourselves some time.

This movie actually made me sad. I am very sad to see that Ellen Page is letting herself be completely typecast as the alternative teenager rebelling from the world as she figures out who she is. From previous projects, I thought I sensed some strong acting talent there but I'm starting to think that there's a reason Page won't move outside her comfort zone.

I know this may sound odd given the quasi-graphic nature of this film but maybe I'm just too old for it. Maybe I no longer contain enough angst inside of me to find a connection.