Pieces of April (2003)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Pieces of April is a neat little indie film from the early 2000s about a dysfunctional family brought together by the occurrence of Thanksgiving and a spot of life-ending cancer. April Burns is the estranged daughter who sends out the invitations for what could be their final holiday dinner together, and to throw an extra spice into the mix, it's also the first meeting with her mysterious boyfriend (he's black, but a slight upgrade on her previous drug-dealing partner. Go figure.). But director Peter Hedges arranges the structure of the movie so that these stories are all separate strands, and when they converge in the end, all past grievances have been aired and resolved. It is the journey there that tells the story; the reunion is just a formality. A young Katie Holmes plays the titular role, and looks the part (although she would be a complete anachronism today): heavy gothic eyeliner, dyed pigtails, a choker and an abundance of irreverence. But beneath that surface brews anxiety, and Holmes frets frequently and appropriately. Just look at her fall to pieces when stumbling across a pair of salt and pepper shakers along with the childhood trauma that accompanies them. She enables the grief to be visible. Her mother by comparison gets the meatier, Oscar-worthy opportunities, able to undercut her nastiness with biting humour. It's Patricia Clarkson's sheer dismissiveness of the situation that makes her such a potent personality; it's her last Thanksgiving, and she's getting as many late shots in as she can. The natural rhythms of the overlapping dialogue in and out of the car assist this aura of toxicity, riffing off each other, then cutting in during the middle of a sentence, bouncing punchlines off egos. Their timing is impeccable, like a comedy troupe in perfect sync. See how Alison Pill splutters a protest when her big-headed brother tries to snap a candid photo of her picking at her teeth, and then as Clarkson cuts in with a sarcasm comment. You can't buy that type of authenticity. Stylistically, Hedges makes the best of his shoestring budget, replacing conventional lighting and camera setups with a handheld grittiness, as if the viewer was a distant cousin awkwardly observing this family reunion like a fly on the wall. It's no Cassavetes, but it works well in stripping away the glamour of their fragmented lives, peering up and around the dinghy corners of April's apartment block. Livolsi cuts with scrappy relish, in one particular occasion overlaying April and Bobby's sweet pillow talk (about the lavish meal they are preparing) with the bickering and chaos of the rest of the Burns family making their way into the city. It's all grainy and the outdoor shots are overexposed, but those have never got in the way of a good story. April's quest to cook her damn turkey doubles as an expansion of her mindset and tolerance, sharing stories and cooking tips with black neighbours and overflowing with gratitude at the Chinese family who lend her the use of their oven, although they don't speak a lick of English. This is all pretty conventional stuff, and although it may be eye-opening for April, it's not exactly groundbreaking or transgressive. Even when Bobby is fretting over making a good impression on his white girlfriend's family, the subtext is mostly text. When he bumps into April's drug-dealing ex, instead of highlighting the irony of how race still is the overpowering stigma, it just becomes a bad comedy sketch. It all ends in a wordless montage set to gentle music and touching snippets of the reconciliation dinner, which is perhaps more than the Burns deserve. See Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married for a similar story that doesn't pull its punches.

Family gatherings and the unpleasant things resulting therefrom are a common theme in cinema. "Pieces of April" features this theme but branches it out to also look at social isolation. April (Katie Holmes) has lived in this apartment in New York for some time but hasn't gotten to know the other people in the building. Upon finding her oven broken, April has no choice but to try and get to know people. Meanwhile, her family's conversations reveal old wounds.The movie is shot in a naturalistic style to give a sense of realism. And quite frankly, that's the only thing in April's dismal world (both from her residence and her family). All sorts of bad things are happening with each group (April, her beau, and her family). And the movie pulls off everything perfectly. This is exactly what a movie should be. I recommend it.Also starring Patricia Clarkson (who received an Academy Award nomination for the role), Oliver Platt, Alice Drummond (the librarian in the original "Ghostbusters"), Derek Luke and Sean Hayes.

Out of deep brokenness, dysfunctionality, sadness and despair comes a moment of true peace and joy. This is truly a fantastic film. Significantly underrated yet beautiful. The acting is superb on all counts. Without a doubt in my mind it is Katie Holmes best role. These are the kinds of roles to which she'd do well to seek to return. But, the other roles were also exceptional. Those who have seen Newsroom will recognize two of the actors as the younger siblings in this film - Allison Pill and John Gallagher, Jr. Their current acting skills are clearly recognized and on display. And the roles played by the consistently sound Oliver Platt and the underrated but very talented Patricia Clarkson are superb. My wife and I have watched this every Thanksgiving since 2006. It remains the best Thanksgiving movie ever made, in our view.

Pieces of April is about being the black sheep. It's a critique of family life.The good. A sweet, yet starkly realistic, family story, sometime touching, often surprising, with a few laughs and oddity to soften the drama. A solidly paced scenario well rendered by the editing and the camera work. Soft music and score. Complex and very varied characters with nice depth. Hard hitting dialogs that reflect the harshness that sometime life can have. Great acting on the part of all the cast.The actors. The most notables are definitively Katie Holmes, Oliver Platt, and Patricia Clarkson.The bad. Nothing.The ugly. Nothing.The result. Not everyone will appreciate this film, but I still recommend it to those willing to see life for what it is.