According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Tracey Fragments will be coming to U.S. theaters in May by way of ThinkFilm. Based on a novel by Maureen Medved, the movie stars Ellen Page of Juno, Hard Candy, and X-Men III as a self-loathing teenage girl trying desperately to find her lost nine-year-old brother who thinks he's a dog. The film uses a non-linear narrative and split-screen to present the main characters thoughts. Director Bruce McDonald has several intriguing credits, including the punk rock faux documentary Hard Core Logo, as well as episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation and the ultra bizarre science fiction series Lexx.No doubt the success of Juno spurred ThinkFilm's decision to distribute The Tracey Fragments. They will release the film in New York City on May 9, to be followed by a presumably limited release (given the film's unconventional nature) to other cities. The film is nominated for six awards at next month's Genies (Canada's big entertainment award), including best actress for Page. It also won the Manfred Salzgeber Panorama Jury Prize, for a film that "broadens the boundaries of cinema," at last year's Berlin fest. It also garnered positive reviews from Cinematical's own James Rocchi and Erik Davis.
For those curious about the film, the official website is definitely worth a look. It offers the trailer which provides a glimpse at McDonald's intriguing approach, a downloadable Tracey Fragments comic book in PDF format, and a fascinating bit called Tracey: ReFragmented (which Monika first posted about here) for which McDonald made all the footage shot for the film available and held a contest inviting anyone and everyone to remix it. The contest is closed but you can still view the entries.
One of my favorite times of the year is seeing what will pop on for Canada's Top Ten. Every year, Cinematheque Ontario releases the films they believe are the country's top 10 of the year, and tops off great selections with panel events with filmmakers and stars. It's the series that introduced me to Guy Maddin, while letting me relish quintessential Canadian talent like Sarah Polley and Calum Keith Rennie. Being outside of the big-studio system, the 10 are also pretty diverse, interesting, and challenging. In the last few years alone, they've screened the likes of Away from Her, C.R.A.Z.Y., Ryan, The Saddest Music in the World, Ararat, and Ginger Snaps.
Mash-ups are all the rage these days as songs, movies, and every sort of media find their disparate parts joined into a usually surprisingly-cohesive whole. Now the filmmakers themselves are getting into the trend. .jpg)
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