The Tracey Fragments
Bruce McDonald (Canada, 2007, 77 min.)
In this literally fragmented film, the story of Tracey Berkowitz (Ellen Page) is told through a multiple-image split screen style, going beyond mere representation to try to envision what's going on in the teenager's mind, in her past, and in her future.
As she talks to her analyst, one part of the frame begins to show Tracey sitting in a photobooth. Soon, all of the parts of the frame are taken up with images from the booth: Tracey posing for her photo, the counter on the booth tallying how much money she has put in, Tracey standing outside the booth waiting for her photos to arrive, and then the photos themselves.
While the film jumps through time and distance with manic energy, this photobooth sequence is one of the most realistic for one simple reason: Tracey is actually sitting in a real photobooth, and the photos we see on screen are the real photos that are taken during the scene that the audience observes. A real booth making real photos is not something we see very often when it comes to photobooths in film.
Thanks to Klaas for the tip; it only took us a year to note the film on our site.
Contributed by Brian
