Reviews

The Tracey Fragments

Kris Rothstein
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Maureen Medved’s novel The Tracey Fragments failed to entertain me through nine hours of peanuts and parched air on a transatlantic flight. However, the recent film adaptation by Bruce McDonald surpassed my expectations. McDonald is well known for his maverick style and dark humour in movies like Roadkill, Hard Core Logo and The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess. Over time his work has become more experimental, and concerned with heightened reality and the fragmentation of narrative, so this was a perfect story for him. Fifteen-year-old Tracey Berkowitz is on a bus, naked except for a shower curtain. How did she get there? Which pieces of her life story as a misfit are reality and which are fantasy? McDonald tackles these questions by fracturing the screen and showing multiple views in constantly changing visual configurations. Rarely does the audience see the usual full-screen image; instead we’re assaulted with different perspectives of an action sequence or views of sneakers, a lamppost, some snow. It could be gimmicky but the technique totally works for this film.

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