Pieces of April

Rating:
Summary: April is perfect
Review: A small, small indie, APRIL has a no-money-for-nothin' look to it and relies on the talents and dialogue of its characters. What a sweet surprise; even an old cynic like me can get a piece of their hearts wounded by April's attempts to prove to her family that she has some substance, and the attempts just fail (though the movie succeeds).

Loosely: April is living with her boyfriend in a crappy NY apartment and palns a Thanksgiving dinner for her parents and siblings. The place is filthy; the sink is scary, but April works it into a managed thing when the oven fails to light.

Based on a real story and combined with the director's real-life mother's battle with cancer, two sides to a common story crash into each other with the help in interferrence of some wonderful neighbors in the building and a few people along the way.

Insightfully shot to capture every image like a network of pasted together still photos that each tell a minor story. PIECES OF APRIL is a family (kinda) friendly film gem!

Rating:
Summary: April Showers
Review: The indie flick, Pieces of April, starts off straight forward with a woman (Katie Holmes) who is trying to make a Thanksgiving day meal for her family that is arriving that day. He boyfriend played by (Derek Luke) is assisting her in some of the burden of preparing the feast. The apartment is small and dingy, like some New York apartments are and the dilemna arises when the stove goes out and April needs to cook the bird before her family arrives. The chaos that ensues shows April skittering here and there from stove to stove to get the turkey cooked from neighbor (Sean Hayes) and others, in addition to making the rest of the sides in her kitchen. Patricia Clarkson, who plays Aprils mother, helps the movie tremendously. Her sarcasm, witt, anger and pointedness brings the true conflict of mother and daughter into focus. The two are at odds and a climatic confrontation ensures so that both can come to terms with each other and themselves.

Rating:
Summary: Touching and Amusing Off-Beat Drama with Excellent Clarkson
Review: Peter Hedges, the original novelist/screenwriter of 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape?', makes an impressive debut with this touching, off-beat comedy drama, which was made with only (supposedly) about $300,000 budget. And Patricia Clarkson got a well-deserved Oscar nonimation for playing the role of terminally-ill mother Joy Burns with a very wicked sense of humor, who is taking a Thanksgiving holiday to meet her long-estranged daughter April (Katie Holmes in punk costume) in Downtown, New York City.

In the meanshile, April, who is certainly not the best cook in her family, should prepare for the Thanksgivinig Day dinner. A turkey must be roasted in oven, which turns out broken. She knows this will all end up with a disaster, but her kind boyfriend Bobby (Derek Luke, who was 'Antoine Fisher' in Denzel Washington film) is buying a suit for the party, so she cannot back up.

The camera switches back and forth between her last-minute efforts and her family in a car heading for NYC (driven by underrated Oliver Platt, who shows very unexpected tender side). During the whole drive, you see Patricia Clarkson, with her deep voice and a sly humor sense, rules the family. She must be obeyed (and she is ill, isn't she?). And we are quite amused, coming to like her for and despite her faults, which perhaps were the original reason of April running away from her home.

The film is digitally shot, the music is sparce, and the running time is only 80 minutes. Perhaps the director wanted more budget to prolong the story, but the existing film can stand on its own. Some may disagree with me, but I like this film as it is ... even though I prefer much clearer, clean-cut, traditional movies shot with film.

'Pieces of April' is strongly recommended as a well-made drama, and if you are kind of a person who shares such emotions as 'Home for the Holiday,' this is the one. And Patricia Clarkson is just fantastic, who should have been given the due recognition by now, probably as much as that of Oscar-winner Holly Hunter.

Rating:
Summary: Displaced family dysfunction
Review: Many of us know that Thanksgiving as a holiday can be about as exciting as Arbor Day or Flag Day. We eat a good deal, we watch football, we make smalltalk with people we see about three-four times annually.

However, Thanksgiving provides a tremendous backdrop as the impetus for portraying family dysfunction. I think the reason many of us see this as boring is because our expectations of what family should be is often met...not so with our onscreen counterparts. To them...the goal is yet to be reached (thus, family holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas are about reaching that often obtainable goal...family unity.)

That being said, Pieces of April does a remarkable job of showing just why this family doesn't work. We see April at the onset in a shoddy New York apartment, whose appearance suggests that of youthful rebellion. We know right away that she is the "black sheep" of the family after we meet the rest of her family. We feel as they are though the model family, with the concerned father, the sickly mother (who wants more than anything to see her daughter), the aspiring photographer son, and the other daughter...an operatic prodigy.

However, after watching the movie, we see where the problems reside. April, having her share of hard times, is trying to reconcile. She works herself into a tizzy, attempting to find a working oven (discovering hers is broken) so that she may have a cooked turkey. The importance? A cooked turkey is the crowning achievement that all is well with Thanksgiving (showing that we need all well with our family.) Yet April encounters problem after problem attempting to get this turkey cooked (conflicting schedules, neurotic tenants, etc.)

Furthermore, we see the true nature of this family. Mom does not have a happy memory of her daughter (and makes fun of her skills on the trip down), son has a muddied head...possibly related to his ready stash of drugs on hand, daughter cannot bear a sibling being just as wonderful as she is, and father tries to do what he can to keep it together.

It is not until the mother's encounter in a restaurant bathroom that she discovers her own demons and sets out to right the wrongs. Pieces of April is honest and gritty, yet has a heart. Despite our demons, we all want the same things. We want to matter to each other, we want to fit in...we want (for all intents and purposes), for that turkey to be successfully cooked.


Rating:
Summary: moving family drama
Review: Katie Holmes playes the title role in Peter Hedges' PIECES OF APRIL; April is a rebellious young woman living in downmarket New York with her warmly affectionate boyfriend (Derek Luke). The action unfolds on Thanksgiving day, as April prepares dinner for her family, with whom she has a strained relationship. Of particular importance is April's distance from her mother Joy (Oscar-nominated Patricia Clarkson), who has been diagnosed with cancer.

It would be easy for this to have turned into a sentimental mess, but Hedges levens everything with humor and the exceptional cast keeps things sharp. The weakest scenes actually involve April's attempts to find a usuable oven in her building; a subplot involving Sean Hayes as a weirdo neighbor feels half-thought out. Clarkson is extraordinary, the scene where she finally decides what to do on Thanksgiving day is very moving. Also with Oliver Platt, Alison Pill, and Alice Drummond. The DVD includes commentary and a featurette. Recommended

Rating:
Summary: GREAT movie!!
Review: Pieces of April is a great film. Its a small independent film with a very big meaning. The script and cast are excellent, Katie Holmes shines as April...by far her best movie yet. Patricia Clarkson is great as well, powerful performance from her as well as the rest of the cast. Peter Hedges did wonderful job with the script and directing Pieces of April. If you haven't seen this movie yet, I would definately recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: A study of family and the meaning of Thanksgiving
Review: What "It's a Wonderful Life" is to Christmas, "Pieces of April" is to Thanksgiving. Be it in an alternative-lifestyle, postmodern, artistically disjointed way.

April has volunteered to cook the big Thanksgiving dinner for her family and they have accepted. However, April cannot cook and her family does not really want to see her. The film illustrates the truth that the holidays are not always happily anticipated by everyone - some families, in fact, dread being together.

As April attempts to cook the turkey, she encounters her diverse neighbors in the run-down apartment building, each with their own quirks and pain. The film is both gritty and uplifting.

When April struggles to explain to the Asian family how Thanksgiving first came about, you see her stumble onto the true meaning of the holiday. Which is that these people from opposite worlds realized that they ultimately need each other. Suddenly you realize that little has changed since Plymouth Rock, afterall.

Rating:
Summary: VERY MIXED EMOTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE!
Review: Ok, this is wierd. I am a huge indie movie fan and i love katie holmes. I was practically bored out of my mind while watching this movie and i kept getting online while still glancing up at the movie here and there. I thought to myself, i will never watch this again cause it's sooo freaking boring. THEN, the STRANGEST thing happend at the end... I found myself starting to cry and then cry some more and before i knew it, my face was soaked with tears. The ending is very touching and it just made my day. I still wouldnt watch this again because i cant sit through the dreadful boredom, but Im glad i got something out of this movie, it truly brought out pure emotion in the end and made me feel like the movie was not a complete waste. In closing, if you would like to get touched and charmed in the end, i say sit through this movie, it is worth it, but since i know how it ends now, i will never sit through it again.