Tragically slow.  Fragments follows the lives of 5 people (Forest Whitaker, Dakota Fanning, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hutcherson and Guy Pearce) after they survive an act of violence in a local LA diner. Filmed much like Crash or Vantage Point (but with far less repetition) it shows us part of what happens at the diner but then takes us back with the telling of each characters view point to learn just a little bit more.

Anne (Dakota Fanning) and Jimmy (Josh Hutcherson) are teens dealing with the tragedy in different ways but pulled together because of it.  Anne finds God and builds popularity with it. Jimmy hides within and won’t say a word to anyone. You almost begin to think Anne is dealing rather well till she becomes fanatical about it. And you really feel the pain Jimmy is going through and begin to suspect he knows more than what we saw.  In the end Jimmy breaks the silence and begins the healing for both him and Anne.

Dr. Bruce Laraby (Guy Pearce) is dealing with the guilt as he realizes he did the most simple of courteous acts – he held the door for a stranger. A stranger that just happens to then kill. What else could he have done continuously goes through his head. To compound the situation he wasn’t able to save Anne’s dad at the hospital. In order to cope he tries to “save” his wife from her migraines.

Now the storyline that could have been dropped all together INMO is that of Carla (Kate Beckinsale). Carla is a waitress that witnesses the act but is not affected directly. She begins to lose a grip on reality as she thinks Dr. Laraby and she were brought together for a reason. Soon she starts to neglect her infant son in search of some masculine attentions.

The absolute best performance, hands down, is that of Forest Whitaker as Charlie. The entire movie could have been all about him as far as I’m concerned.  Charlie is a gambling addict father (daughter is a small role played by Jennifer Hudson – totally wasted talent in this role) that has learned he has cancer. In a twist of fate Charlie is spared during the shooting and so thinks that he has gotten lucky. He goes on to get shit-faced drunk and gamble till he wins $100,000, loses it all, takes a $25,000 loan from a loan shark and subsequently loses that too. Said shark is none too happy so takes the money out of Charlie by breaking his arm with a cement block. Charlie is at absolute rock bottom. Or is he? There’s a fine little twist that left me scratching my head but Whitaker’s acting is so off the chain good that I just rolled with it.

It’s not much of a thought provoking movie. It’s just a trip (a very long sloooooow trip) in the lives of some unfortunate survivors. Each showing us a different way to cope.  The end is not uplifting nor is it a complete downer. It just is.

The only feature on the dvd is a director commentary. This is so not a movie to sit through twice to get that commentary.

I’m giving this a C+. If it was so damn long and got to the point I would grade it much higher because the acting of this entire cast is fabulous and the story is really rich.