April Burns (Katie Holmes) and her mother, Joy (Patricia Clarkson), have been on the outs with each other almost since the girl was born. It's Thanksgiving and grown up April thinks it is time to bury the hatchet and invites her estranged family for the holiday dinner. Not known to be much of a cook she vows to herself and her new live-in boyfriend Bobby (Derek Luke) to do all of the meal preparation herself. He heads out, on the special day, because he has to do a "thing" as she starts cooking dinner. But, the oven is broken, Bobby is gone and she has guests coming over in a few short hours. Hopefully, she won't have to pickup the "Pieces of April."
Christmas films, rather than Thanksgiving flicks, tend to dominate the holiday movie going season. There are a couple of exceptions that come to mind: the brilliant and heart-rending comedy, "Plains, Trains and Automobiles," and the horrible disaster, "Home for the Holidays," Jody Foster's failed sophomore effort. While "Pieces of April" does not approach the caliber of "Planes," it is far more entertaining than "Home."
April, alone, new to the building and with disaster looming, decides to seek assistance from her neighbors. She tries the door of a series of unhelpful neighbors: a fanatical psycho cat owner; an equally fanatical psycho vegan; and, a black couple who's initial reaction to her plight is derision and some hostility. April, desperate, blurts out her dilemma and tells Yvette and Eugene about her long time problems with her mother, Joy's battle with cancer and April's hope that she can make amends. Yvette, feeling a twang of compassion and understanding, invites her to the use of their oven, at least for a couple of hours before they have to start their own turkey dinner. Now that the crisis is under control April heads off to finish preparing the rest of the dinner and seek out another oven.
She happens upon another neighbor, Wayne (Sean Hayes), a fastidious dog owner who grudgingly lets April use his pristine, new deluxe convection oven. When she pushes off his amorous advances he leaves in a snit and holds her turkey hostage. Now, she has to contend with dinner held prisoner and still needs to finish cooking the bird.
Meanwhile, Joy agrees to attend the dinner at her husband, Jim's (Oliver Platt), insistence and against the advice of her younger, eager to please daughter, Beth (Allison Pill), who is overly protective of her mom. The chemotherapy has taken its toll on Joy and Jim has to pull over frequently when she feels ill. A stop at a Krispy Kreme Donuts shop gives her temporary solace but, as they get closer to their final destination and likely confrontation, Joy has second thoughts.
The story shift back and forth between these two scenarios as April works hard and makes more new friends: an Asian family that speaks little English but, still, understand that she is in trouble and offer their own unoccupied oven. The young woman learns a few things over the course of the day and realizes that her good intentions to make peace with her mom are worth the effort. Joy, also, learns a lesson in life as she vacillates between maternal obligation and fear of further confrontation with her daughter versus the fear of being alienated forever.
"Pieces of April" doesn't cover new ground and the long time conflict between mother and daughter is all wrapped up perfunctorily and in a tidy package by the end of the film. The two stars, Holmes and Clarkson, play apart for nearly the entire film and each is fully in charge of their piece. Supporting cast has some standouts with Oliver Platt giving a sympathetic performance as the father who wants harmony in his family and puts on a brave front over Joy's illness. Derek Luke, though not in the film too much, makes the most out of his likable boyfriend Bobby, especially when you learn about his "thing." Sean Hayes steals the show during his few minutes on screen as Wayne.
Techs are OK with the apartments in April's building each having a personality befitting its tenants.
"Pieces of April" too easily wraps up the lifelong conflict between Joy and April in the end, but there is a good-natured feel that makes it a amiable little holiday film. I give it a B.
Susan Granger's review of "Pieces of April" (United Artists/IFC Productions) This black comedy belongs to a new sub-species of films known as the Thanksgiving genre, like Jodie Foster's cynical "Home for the Holidays" and the syrupy "What's Cooking?" Written and directed by Peter Hedges ("What's Eating Gilbert Grape?"), the unconventional story revolves around stubbornly independent April Burns (Katie Holmes) who has invited her dysfunctional suburban family to drive into Manhattan to join her for the traditional feast. April's never cooked a turkey before but her devoted boy-friend Bobby (Derek Luke) helps her get the bird and the "fixin's" ready in their shabby apartment before cycling off to find appropriate attire to meet April's family. Soon after his departure, April discovers to her horror that the stove's not working, leaving her to knock on various neighbors' doors to beg to use their ovens. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, April's bitterly alienated mother, Joy (Patricia Clarkson), is already sitting in the station wagon, ready for the journey. She's terminally ill with cancer and callously uses deathbed humor to manipulate her husband and children. After several stops - to pick up a senile grandmother (Alice Drummond), smoke 'medicinal' pot and bury road-kill - Mom, Dad (Oliver Platt) and April's two younger siblings arrive at her tenement in a dilapidated Lower East Side neighborhood, only to discover that April's beloved Bobby is a black man. Peter Hedges cleverly captures familial estrangement, just as Tami Reiker's hand-held digital photography has unvarnished realism. It's an amusingly indelible portrait a family reunion and reconciliation - and leaving this life with no regrets. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Pieces of April" is a wry, ironic, off-beat 7, seasoned with the spicy sentiment of Thanksgiving.
PIECES OF APRIL (2003) Rated PG-13; running time 80 minutes Studio: United Artists Genre: Dramedy Seen at: Eastwood Neighborhood Cinema Group (Lansing, Michigan) Official site: http://www.piecesofaprilmovie.com/ IMDB site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311648/combined Writer: Peter Hedges Director: Peter Hedges Cast: Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, Derek Luke, Oliver Platt, Alison Pill, John Gallagher Jr., Alice Drummond, Lillias White, Isiah Whitlock Jr, Sisqo, Sean Hayes
It's rare that I consider the title of a movie for more than a fleeting moment; after all, many filmmakers, especially those specializing in Art Fillums, seem to delight themselves in giving their films as opaque a title as possible. But this movie's title intrigued me. Were the "pieces" being referred to, April falling to pieces while trying to deal with the impending arrival of her family? Were those pieces, instead, the fractured memories her family had of any good times with April? Or were they simply the small bits of April - and her (extended) family - that writer/director Peter Hedges gave us in those 80 grainy digital minutes?
THE STORY (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**) April Burns (Katie Holmes) is anxious about having invited her family to have Thanksgiving dinner with her and boyfriend Bobby (Derek Luke) at their ghettofied apartment in New York. With good reason: the rebellious April has been estranged from her mother Joy (Patricia Clarkson), father Jim (Oliver Platt), for...well, forever. April's Issues only intensify when, faced with the daunting enough task of trying to cook a beast of a turkey for her family, her oven dies, and she has to ask her apartment neighbors to let her use their oven. On Thanksgiving day.
But April isn't the only one with Family Issues; no, Joy, Jim, "perfect" sister Beth (Alison Pill), and emotionally-distant brother Timmy (John Gallagher Jr) have more than their fair share of bitterness about April, and in a sense, each other. They're also in a state of flux about Joy's constant illness...and about how she chooses to deal with it. And they have all day to deal with these things, as they ride to the city in one small station wagon, forgetful Grandma Dottie (Alice Drummond) in tow.
THE UPSHOT However you choose to interpret the title, the overall film came across as clear as a bell to me. The grainy look of the digital images, worked in Hedges' favor. I am cynical enough to believe that if PIECES OF APRIL had the polished look of mainstream film, its overall impact would've been lessened. Instead of coming across as pretentious and vapidly arty (c.f. IN THE CUT), APRIL allowed the viewer to focus in on the rapidly disintegrating Burns family.
For some reason, I've tended to confuse Katie Holmes with Kate Hudson in my head. No more; here, Holmes leaves any memories of the plastic Hudson, in the dust. Holmes' performance as April isn't the best of this movie (I'll get to that in a minute), but she certainly gives the exasperated outcast April a real-life flavor that surprised me. The same goes for Alison Pill as younger sister Beth; as the middle child of nine, I've seen siblings like Beth. Lord knows I hope I haven't *been* Beth.
The balance of the cast - including Oliver Platt as the exasperated, exhausted father and husband, Derek Luke as April's loyal boyfriend, John Gallagher Jr as the brother whose loyalties are torn between supporting April as well as his mother, and Lillias White and Isiah Whitlock Jr. as two of April's sympathetic, funny neighbors - provide strong support that keep this movie moving in somewhat unexpected, but interesting, directions. Even Sisqo (yes, the "thong th-thong-thong" Sisqo) has himself a good Moment or two as Bobby's friend, Latrell.
But the real treasure of APRIL was Patricia Clarkston as the ill, angry, fatalistic mother. Her character was named exactly right. "Joy" may not have been an easy character to take - we're so used to seeing characters in her situation be portrayed as Courageous and Sympathetic, Loving Life To Its Fullest - but Clarkston was a joy to behold in PIECES OF APRIL. I'm pulling for an Oscar nomination for Clarkston, for her strong work here. Let's just hope MPAA head honcho Jack Valente can get his head out of his ass long enough to allow smaller films like APRIL to be seen by a wider audience.
While the quickly wrapped-up ending may lead some to cry foul, I heard myself exclaim "good job" aloud [though quietly; no talking in the theater, kids]. Can't ask for much more than that, eh?
THE "ETHNIC FACTOR" [ObDisclaimer: We Are Not A Monolith] After I wrote the main text in my review, I read a couple reviews of PIECES OF APRIL that dissed this film for its "unrealistic" treatment of New York City. Not surprisingly, I think they're just plain wrong.
As a frequent visitor of The Big Apple, as well as an observer of its portrayal in mass media, I can say with all the confidence of an outsider looking in, that most TV shows, and many movies, get NYC dead wrong. The New York that I know and love is a big, dirty, sometimes stinky place, with people who would as quickly cuss you out as would say "hi" to you. It's popular in these post-"9/11" times, to show New York as being this cuddly place where We All Can Get Along [I know, that's L.A. Work with me here].
But the real New York can't be ignored in all its multiethnic glory; and though there are some there who *would* just as soon cuss you out as would say "hi" to you, my experience also informs me that there are some genuinely caring folks who inhabit that crazy island. And yes, many of them look just like the Black, and White, and Asian, and [insert race/color/creed here] folks who make up the people in April's neighborhood.
BAMMER'S BOTTOM LINE I left PIECES OF APRIL feeling as satisfied as if I had just had a good feast, and ready to go deal with my own dysfunctional family. I don't know about you, but in my book, that's a sure sign that a movie hit its mark.
PIECES OF APRIL rating: greenlight
Rose "Bams" Cooper Webchick and Editor, 3BlackChicks Review Entertainment Reviews With Flava! Copyright Rose Cooper, 2003 EMAIL: b...@3blackchicks.com http://www.3blackchicks.com/
PIECES OF APRIL A film review by David N. Butterworth Copyright 2003 David N. Butterworth
**1/2 (out of ****)
"Pieces of April" is a nice, slight, low-budget indie brimming with good intentions and made for very little money (estimates vary, but "under $200,000" seems to be the consensus). It's directed by Peter Hedges, who adapted the screenplays for Bruce Hornby's "About a Boy" and his own "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and stars, among others, Katie Holmes ("Phone Booth," "Wonder Boys"), Oliver Platt ("Ash Wednesday," "ZigZag"), and Patricia Clarkson ("Far from Heaven" and "The Station Agent," currently in theaters). Holmes plays April, the punk black sheep daughter of Jim (Platt) and Joy (Clarkson) Burns who, against everybody's better judgment including her own, has agreed to host Thanksgiving dinner in her miniscule Lower East Side apartment. April's parents, shutter-happy brother Timmy (John Gallagher Jr.), uptight operatic sister Beth (Alison Pill), and dotty old grandmother Dottie (Alice Drummond) pile into the family station wagon and head to New York City in a move reminiscent of Greg Mottola's "The Daytrippers" (although that film was a lot funnier) while April rushes from one rundown apartment to another looking for help while experiencing one culinary disaster after another. The cast is commanding, especially the leads, but the film isn't nearly as amusing as it ought to be. In fact, it's rather sad and depressing for the most part (the dreary look of the film, shot on digital video in just 16 days, doesn't help any). But everything culminates in a scene that's so incredibly moving it virtually negates all of the false starts and occasional wrong notes and sporadic sour tones that went before it--Mom has breast cancer and vomits a lot, April's boyfriend is (gasp!) African-American, all of the neighbors fit a convenient stereotype, etc. And in that regard it shocks us silly with its powerful statement about the enduring love of family.
