A talent who deserves to be treated as one of the giants of the film world here in Canada but seldom gets the attention given to, say, Cronenberg or Egoyan, Bruce McDonald returns to the Toronto International Film Festival with his latest picture, The Tracey Fragments.
15-year-old Tracey Berkowitz (Ellen Page) is naked under a tattered shower curtain at the back of a bus, looking for her little brother Sonny, who thinks he’s a dog.Tracey’s journey leads us into the dark underbelly of the city, into the emotional cesspool of her home, through the brutality of her high school, the clinical cat and mouse games with her shrink and her soaring fantasies of Billy Zero, her boyfriend and rock ’n’ roll saviour. Her travels also put her in contact with the seedier inhabitants of the city. Like Lance, her would-be saviour who ultimately puts her life in jeopardy.
The film arrives here fresh from winning the Manfred-Salzberger Prize in Berlin and represents and interesting spin on the road movie that is McDonald's regular stomping ground. There's an unusual amount of technical wizardry in this one for McDonald - who normally prefers things raw - as well, with the director emplying a huge amount of split screen. Trailer is fascinating stuff ...
Agreed. It was a trifle, but a damn solid trifle, but MacDonald's PICTURE CLAIRE was completely ignored despite great perfs from Juliette Lewis, Mickey Rourke, Gina Gershon and Callum Kieth Rennie. That's a damn shame, because it was such a nice love-letter to Toronto.
Here's hoping Ellen Page's growing fame (X3, Hard Candy) is enough to elevate awareness of this picture.
Thanks for speaking up. You've definitely placed this on my radar.