Pieces of April

Review by Pam Singleton

for Reel Movie Critic

HHH ½ Stars

Cast

Katie Holmes April Burns

Patricia Clarkson Joy Burns

Oliver Platt Jim Burns

Derek Luke Bobby

Written and directed by Peter Hedges. A comedic drama. Rated PG-13 for language, sensuality, drug content and images of nudity. United Artists. Running time: 80 minutes.

"Pieces of April" marks the directing debut for Peter Hedges. He received an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay "About a Boy" (Hugh Grant), and wrote the novel and screenplay "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" (Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio), one of Pam's favorite films. Hedges' innovative filmmaking continues to shed light on the often bitter and comedic turns our lives can take.

Shot with a hand held digital camera, the movie has an intimacy and immediacy that draws you into this circle of family and friends, as they prepare for that most American (and often dreaded) holiday tradition, Thanksgiving dinner.

April (Katie Holmes, "Phone Booth" and TV's "Dawson's Creek") is determined to gather together her suburban family to share a home cooked meal in the small Lower East Side apartment where she lives with her boyfriend Bobby (Derek Luke, "Antwone Fisher"). Bobby and April are obviously in love, and are building a life in the face of a few obstacles. She and her mother, Joy (Patricia Clarkson), have never gotten along, and April is anxious to come to an understanding with her as her mother faces breast cancer.

April doesn't have a clue, which becomes apparent as she stuffs the turkey with uncut stalks of celery and tries to mash the potatoes, before they're cooked. She does know that she needs to roast the bird, and when she's ready to pop it in the oven, April discovers that hers doesn't work. So begins her floor to floor canvas of the building, heavy roasting pan in hand, in search of a hot oven. A mix of neighbors dish out a lot of advice; most notable, a black couple, Yvette and Eugene (Lillias White and Isiah Whitlock, Jr.), who sound off about canned cranberry sauce and prepared stuffing. Then there's the Chinese family, who doesn't speak much English and tries to understand the idea of Thanksgiving, as explained by April.

Meanwhile, the family station wagon heads toward NYC, with everyone reluctant to see April, except her father, Jim (Oliver Platt), who tries to hold it all together. They make pit stops along the way for Mom to toke on a marijuana joint, supplied by April's teenage brother Timmy (John Gallagher, Jr.), to keep down the nausea she experiences from chemotherapy. Patricia Clarkson gives a brilliant portrayal here as an angry, articulate, and ferociously funny woman in a battle for time. Last year Clarkson won several Critics awards for her supporting actress performance in "Far From Heaven," including a nomination from the Chicago Film Critics Association. At Sundance this year she was honored with the Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance in three films: "Pieces of April," "The Station Agent," and "All the Real Girls."

Alison Pill is wonderfully cast as Beth, April's perfect younger sister. Her fresh scrubbed looks and poise, showing the strain, are paradoxical to April's piercings and "grunge/goth" gear. Also making the journey is Grandma Dottie (Alice Drummond), who, shall we say, has a very "selective" memory.

"Pieces of April" is a film about remnants of memories, some good, some bad, some best forgiven. It's also a story about traditions, old ones and new ones that we create.