In the aftermath of a gruesome restaurant murder, the survivors of the attack are left to ponder their own mortality and how it relates to their connection to society. Forest Whitaker, Guy Pearce, Kate Beckinsale, and Dakota Fanning headline Little Fish director Rowan Woods' adaptation of Roy Freirich's debut novel. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Fragments is both deeply self-serious and essentially meaningless, the sort of we're-all-connected tragedy in which birds fly free while humans remain stuck in place.
The casting directors of Fragments deserve credit for assembling so much talent in one modest movie; if only Rowan Woods, the director, knew what to do with them.
Crash's Best Picture Oscar win helped jump-start a wave of self-deluded ensemble imitators who seem to feel that overt emotionalism ladled over a loosely connected narrative is a surefire sign of Important Filmmaking. Witness Fragments.
Rowan Woods indulges in some sub-subpar Crash territory here, with a laughably self-serious narrative that has less to do with reality than histrionics.
The anxiety is deafening in this flimsy symphony of shattered lives, which -- like that confounding Oscar winner Crash -- confuses entropy for empathy.
An okay dramatic movie that was good in some parts and boring in others.
October 2, 2011
Cassie Hill
Super Reviewer
This calm yet intense drama tells the story of a few survivors of a diner shooting and how they deal with the violence they were exposed to or the loss of loved ones. In somewhat unconnected story lines we follow the characters during the days after the event and see how differently they react, how they turn towards
God, gambling, fear, indifference and deal with the newly experienced lack of control in their lives. The acting by an excellent cast (Dakota Fanning, Guy Pearce, Forest Whitaker) is top notch and although all characters have a bit of an epiphany at the end of the film, it still doesn't offer an overall solution. How could it? The movie may not grasp the complexity of such a situation in its entirety, but it's still an interesting look at what people go through in such extreme situations. Worth seeing.
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