A California diner serves as the backdrop of this story in which several different lives happen to be at the wrong time. A lone gunman enters the place and proceeds to shoot people without any apparent motive. The dead victims at least are at peace, the survivors must make adjustments to their lives, as they must go on suffering individual tragedies. The consequences of a criminal act affects the principals in different ways.
Faith is something Anne, the young teenager, is what she has a lot of. When her father dies in the tragedy, she becomes a sort of religious fanatic, trying to get all her friends, especially the disturbed Jimmy, into her way of life. The pathetic waitress Carla, secretly pining after Dr. Bruce Laraby, uses the excuse of her baby being sick in order to see him at the nearby hospital. Charly, a cancer patient, is affected in a different manner by going to a casino where he wins a fortune, only to see it disappear, while her daughter worries about him. Jimmy, who was with Anne at the moment of the killings, becomes paralyzed with fear and can't speak as a result of his trauma. Dr. Laraby's troubled marriage to his wife Joansuffers also as he flirts with Carla.
"Fragments" was the title of this film as it was distributed locally. Australian director Rowan Woods, whose "Little Fish" was a revelation, doesn't bring anything new to the movie. Perhaps was the adaptation by Roy Frierich, who wrote the original novel, that doesn't translate well to cinematic terms.
What Mr. Woods got was good acting in general. The director moves his large cast effortlessly. Dakota Fanning is amazing, as always, playing the born-again Anne. Jeanne Triplehorn is seen as her grieving mother. Kate Beckingsale appears as the waitress Carla. Forest Whitaker has some good moments as Charly. Guy Pearce and Embeth Davidtz are fine as the couple facing a crisis.
Although flawed, the film makes a valuable statement.
Faith is something Anne, the young teenager, is what she has a lot of. When her father dies in the tragedy, she becomes a sort of religious fanatic, trying to get all her friends, especially the disturbed Jimmy, into her way of life. The pathetic waitress Carla, secretly pining after Dr. Bruce Laraby, uses the excuse of her baby being sick in order to see him at the nearby hospital. Charly, a cancer patient, is affected in a different manner by going to a casino where he wins a fortune, only to see it disappear, while her daughter worries about him. Jimmy, who was with Anne at the moment of the killings, becomes paralyzed with fear and can't speak as a result of his trauma. Dr. Laraby's troubled marriage to his wife Joansuffers also as he flirts with Carla.
"Fragments" was the title of this film as it was distributed locally. Australian director Rowan Woods, whose "Little Fish" was a revelation, doesn't bring anything new to the movie. Perhaps was the adaptation by Roy Frierich, who wrote the original novel, that doesn't translate well to cinematic terms.
What Mr. Woods got was good acting in general. The director moves his large cast effortlessly. Dakota Fanning is amazing, as always, playing the born-again Anne. Jeanne Triplehorn is seen as her grieving mother. Kate Beckingsale appears as the waitress Carla. Forest Whitaker has some good moments as Charly. Guy Pearce and Embeth Davidtz are fine as the couple facing a crisis.
Although flawed, the film makes a valuable statement.