Directed by Rowan Woods Starring: Forest Whitaker, Kate Beckinsale, Guy Pearce, Dakota Fanning, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Jackie Earle Haley, Jennifer Hudson, Josh Hutcherson. Synopsis: The story of how five survivors of a random shooting in a diner deal with the violence they have experienced and the effect on their lives in the aftermath. Another ensemble cast story in the style of Powder Blue and The Ripple Effect. And, like those flicks, this one is extremely well done and features top shelf acting performances.
The story starts with a gunman walking into a diner in Los Angeles and randomly opening fire on the customers there. Of course, there are fatalities, but there are survivors as well, and we get to know five of them, one young girl (Dakota Fanning Man On Fire) and her friend, Jimmy (Josh Hutcherson) who witness her father being shot to death; a waitress (Kate Beckinsale Pearl Harbor); a driving school instructor who is dealing with a recent cancer diagnosis (Forest Whitaker Powder Blue); and a doctor who leaves the restaurant just before the shooter enters but is also one of the physicians on duty when the victims start coming in to the emergency room.
The story is filmed in an unique way, and I think it is very effective. We do not see the complete shooting scene all at once, initially we see and hear the gunshots, just enough so we know what has happened. But, the complete scene is shown to us by use of flashbacks throughout the film, and it is not until the end where the see the whole scene as well as, hopefully, tie together all of our characters' motivation and struggle in dealing with what has happened.
The topic is powerful, and too often we might not fully understand or emphathize with the victims of violence unless they are close to us. This flick really focuses on the victims, both those who were injured physically and those just scarred emotionally, and the result is far from the intentional-and often unintentional-way our society and our flicks tend to glamourize it.
Now, I don't mean to get controversial or political and, believe it or not, I don't the film is, either. Its just trying show another side to the results of violence and its aftermath. I think its fitting-not to spoil it for you-that almost no emphasis is put on the shooter, we only briefly even see his face clearly. There is no name, no motive, no reason, no development of him at all, which I think works very well. This is not a mystery film or one seeking to explore the roots or cause of the violence, only to focus on the victims and the aftermath.
And, how did the actors do? Very well, as you might guess. Whitaker is excellent and the closest thing to a main protagonist in this ensemble story. He plays the owner of a driving school who has just received a cancer diagnosis at the time the bullets start flying in the diner. He has a daughter (Jennifer Hudson Dreamgirls) and a past history with a gambling addiction.
Kate Beckinsale is a single mom working as a waitress in the diner and is the most outwardly tortured of the survivors and soon sets her sights on the doctor (Guy Pearce) who treated her in the ER, who also happens to have been in the diner just prior to the shooting. Pearce's character is probably the hardest to figure out, his feeling of guilt at just missing the shooting is clear, but I'm not so sure that his actions in the aftermath our, maybe some of you who have seen this can help me out with just what his deal is. Doesn't mean I don't think Pearce did a good job, because I do.
The two young people at the shooting (Dakota Fanning and Josh Hutcherson) take wildly different paths in the aftermath, with Fanning's character going into outward religious zealotry and Hutcherson's refusing to speak. Jeanne Tripplehorn (Basic Instinct) is in many ways kind of the anchor of the story, playing Fanning's mother and having lost her husband but needing to remain strong for her daughter. She is extremely good in this flick. Also look for Jackie Earle Haley (Shutter Island The Bad News Bears) to steal a few scenes in his role as Hutcherson's bitter father.
As good as I thought the acting was, my favorite thing in this flick was the directing, the way the film was shot and the story told. Like I said earlier, there are elements of some other very good movies in this one, and I do like stories that are real and challenge the audience, which is what Fragments does in a big way. So, if you like that kind of thing, too, I bet you will probably like this flick.
