Attracted by the ensemble talent on offer, together with an interesting narrative premise, Fragments looked like a safe bet. The promising opening left the viewer in little doubt that in such a horrible situation a) there but for the grace of god go I, and b) bearing first-hand witness to an unexplained and seemingly random shooting must unleash a spectrum of traumatic reactions in any group of strangers. But - and it's a really big 'but' - I fear that only in America would such subsequent emotional lid-blowings include poisoning your wife, disappearing off on a casino binge, or developing a messiah-like and very 'adult' god complex when you're only 9 years old. Yawn. Call me a stiff-upper-lip-Brit if you like, but where did all this bullshit come from? It says more about the geographical isolation of USA than anything else.
Any redeeming features? Well the director Rowan Woods managed to weave the various narrative threads together seamlessly enough, and at least it was only just over an hour and a half long, even if it did feel like double. To my mind though, Rowan didn't manage to generate any degree of empathy for his characters, and I was left wishing the gunman had blown away a few more of the diners' customers, to save us all from such turgid twaddle.
So in summary - dear oh dear America, you really do need to get out more. And I don't just mean day-trips to Canada. Meantime, if the reader wants to see a decent film about random shootings, then can I suggest you grab a copy of Gus Van Sant's 'Elephant' off E-bay instead - it's far superior to this self-indulgent drivel. 3/10.
Any redeeming features? Well the director Rowan Woods managed to weave the various narrative threads together seamlessly enough, and at least it was only just over an hour and a half long, even if it did feel like double. To my mind though, Rowan didn't manage to generate any degree of empathy for his characters, and I was left wishing the gunman had blown away a few more of the diners' customers, to save us all from such turgid twaddle.
So in summary - dear oh dear America, you really do need to get out more. And I don't just mean day-trips to Canada. Meantime, if the reader wants to see a decent film about random shootings, then can I suggest you grab a copy of Gus Van Sant's 'Elephant' off E-bay instead - it's far superior to this self-indulgent drivel. 3/10.