The Tracey Fragments (2007)

15-year-old Tracey Berkowitz is naked under a shower curtain at the back of a bus, looking for her little brother Sonny, who thinks he's a dog.

Director:

Bruce McDonald

Writers:

Maureen Medved, Maureen Medved (novel)

Stars:

Elliot Page, Zie Souwand, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos

6 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Elliot Page	...	Tracey Berkowitz (as Ellen Page)
Maxwell McCabe-Lokos	...	Lance (as Max McCabe - Lokos)
Ari Cohen	...	Mr. Berkowitz
Erin McMurtry	...	Mrs. Berkowitz
Zie Souwand	...	Sonny Berkowitz
Stephen Amell	...	Detective
Leonard Dunbar	...	Laughing Man
Chris Ratz	...	Donut Shop Cashier
Daniel Fathers	...	Elegant Pimp Daddy
Ryan Cooley	...	David Goldberg
Jeffrey Bornstein	...	The Boy With Curious Hair
Jackie Brown	...	Mrs. Dorchester the Teacher
Kate Todd	...	That Knockout Bitch Debbie Dodge
Slim Twig	...	Billy Zero
Julian Richings	...	Dr. Heker

Storyline

Tracey Berkowitz, 15, a self-described normal girl, loses her 9-year old brother, Sonny. In flashbacks and fragments, we meet her overbearing parents and the sweet, clueless Sonny. We watch Tracey navigate high school, friendless, picked on and teased. She develops a thing for Billy Zero, a new student, imagining he's her boyfriend. We see the day she loses Sonny and we watch her try to find him. In bits and pieces, we see what leads up to her riding in the back of a city bus wrapped in a shower curtain. Coming of age, or just surviving?

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Plot Keywords:

dysfunctional family | bus | shower curtain | curtain | high school | 

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Taglines:

Something's Missing...

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language throughout, some sexual content and violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

The name "Tracey" is an Anglo-Saxon name meaning "brave"; ironically, Tracey is defined in the film by her bravery, facing abuse, mental illness, homelessness, rape and bullies as she runs away from home in search of her brother.

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Quotes

Tracey Berkowitz: I don't like the country. Creeps me out. In the country, dead bodies live in swamps, and ditches, and shallow graves. A man dumps the body of a girl in a ditch. The body rotts; Melts into slime. Flowers pop up where the body lies, seeds fly out of the flowers, and a bee sucks the flowers and makes honey. And then the family of the girl buys the honey from the store. And the family eats the girl.

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Alternate Versions

Numerous alternate versions of this film exist, as the raw footage was posted to the Internet under free Creative Commons license for anyone to re-edit as they saw fit. The filmmakers chose a few winning re-cuts for inclusion on this film's official DVD.

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Connections

References Stir of Echoes (1999)

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Soundtracks

Land: Horses
Performed by Elizabeth Powell, Brendan Canning & Charles Spearin
Written by Patti Smith
Published by Linda Music (ASCAP)

User Reviews

Exhausting but good

I just saw the world premiere of this film at the Berlin Film Festival and I was quite surprised. When I got the tickets I had no idea what it was actually about. When I was told it was about a 15-year old girl dealing with puberty I wasn't very happy about it. But then what I saw surprised me. During the first 2 minutes I prepared myself for two hours of overdone artistic cinema. But after some time, I got into it and even got attached to the girl who everybody just calls "Its". 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. No wonder, since the director Bruce McDonald took the "Fragment"-part of the title by word. 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. There are only rare scenes in which there are less then 3 fragments to be seen on screen. And the more emotional the protagonist gets, the more fragments appear. So, thus confusing you with just too much information it leaves you overwhelmed with impressions and emotions that are just too plenteous to handle. Off course, McDonald did this on purpose. It's all just a try to visualize what a teen must have to go through in puberty. After a while you get sucked into a world of bullies, disturbed parents, unanswered love, doubts and fantasies, sympathizing more and more with Tracy. Even though it was exhausting to pay attention all the time, I'd say the film is worth seeing (if you have the stamina). I have seen a lot of movies but this one was actually something new. Well, it may be exhausting but when you think of it, wasn't puberty too?!

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 February 2008 (Greece)

Also Known As:

The Tracey Fragments

Filming Locations:

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD750,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,002, 11 May 2008

Gross USA:

$32,645

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$42,318

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shadow Shows, Téléfilm Canada, Corvid Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1