Pieces of April (2003)

A wayward daughter invites her dying mother and the rest of her estranged family to her apartment for Thanksgiving dinner.

Director:

Peter Hedges

Writer:

Peter Hedges

Stars:

Katie Holmes, Derek Luke, Oliver Platt

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 17 wins & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Katie Holmes	...	April Burns
Derek Luke	...	Bobby
Oliver Platt	...	Jim Burns
Alison Pill	...	Beth Burns
John Gallagher Jr.	...	Timmy Burns
Patricia Clarkson	...	Joy Burns
Alice Drummond	...	Grandma Dottie
Vitali Baganov	...	Half Asleep Man
Lillias White	...	Evette
Isiah Whitlock Jr.	...	Eugene
Adrian Martinez	...	Man in Mohair Sweater
Susan Bruce	...	Tish
Jamari Richardson	...	Boy on Bicycle
Leila Danette	...	Woman in Stairwell
Stephen Chen	...	Lee Loung Tan

Storyline

In a very poor zone of New York, April Burns and her boyfriend, the Afro-American Bobby, are preparing to receive April's family for thanksgiving dinner. While Bobby tries to borrow a suit for himself, April realizes that her stove is broken. She tries desperately to find a neighbor that can let her cook the turkey, since she does not want to fail (again) with her family. Meanwhile, in a suburb of Pennsylvania, her dysfunctional family is preparing to travel to New York. While driving, the relationship between the Burns and their black-sheep April is disclosed through the conversations between her father Jim, her resented mother Joy, her brother, her sister and her grandmother.

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Plot Keywords:

thanksgiving | thanksgiving dinner | apartment | dysfunctional family | oven | 

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Taglines:

She's the one in every family.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language, sensuality, drug content and images of nudity

Details

Official Sites:

MGM [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

19 February 2004 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Pieces of April - Ein Tag mit April Burns

Filming Locations:

Bear Mountain, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$300,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$48,422 (USA) (17 October 2003)

Gross:

$2,360,184 (USA) (26 December 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

United Artists, IFC Productions, InDigEnt (Independent Digital Entertainment)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although the film is dedicated to Peter Hedges' mother, who died of cancer, the only true aspect he incorporated is the line where Joy talks about the fictional singer "Smack Daddy". The line is almost word for word what Peter's mother told him while in the hospital, the only exception being that she was talking about Barry White.

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Goofs

The camera Timmy is using is a modern Nikon autofocus SLR which has an electrically controlled self-timer that doesn't make any noise during operation. When April's mother, dad, grandmother and sister stop at the Christmas shop and at the very end of the movie the sound of an old manual self-timer is inserted in the sound track.

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Quotes

[Beth has just finished singing]
Jim Burns: Bravo! Encore, encore!
Beth Burns: Any requests?
Joy Burns: That you stop.

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Crazy Credits

In memory of my mother, Carole Hedges, who loved every day.

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Connections

Referenced in Jeopardy!: Episode #26.9 (2009)

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Soundtracks

"You You You You You"
(2000)
Written by Stephin Merritt
Performed by The 6ths
Courtesy of Merge Records

User Reviews

Took Me By Surprise

This film blew me out of the water. I was expecting an amiable, slight comedy, serving more than anything else as a launching pad for Katie Holmes's career into the Hollywood big time. But instead, this movie is a substantive and very moving story about a young girl who desperately wants to make a nice Thanksgiving dinner for a family from whom she feels somewhat estranged. It's extremely warm but extremely sad, and left me with a huge lump in my throat.

Katie Holmes is winning and sweet as April, and whether or not you like Holmes, I bet you'll be rooting for her by the film's end. For one day, her whole world becomes about planning one successful dinner party, and her lack of skill forces her to fall back on the kindness of neighbors she's never taken the time to meet. Meanwhile, her family (mother, father, brother and snotty sister) are on their way into the city to April's apartment, whining and complaining about having to visit a crummy part of town and missing no opportunity to criticize April, while trying to ignore the white elephant in the room, the fact that their mom has cancer and may not live to see another holiday. Of course, the conversations they have with each other communicate heaps of back story and clue us in to the family dynamic, and we learn that April's biggest critic, her mom, also happens to be the most like her daughter.

Patricia Clarkson has become one of my favorite actresses, and her Academy Award nomination for her performance as the mom in this film was richly deserved (I think she should have won). She beautifully plays this role with just the right amount of sarcasm and wit to prevent the movie from ever getting bogged down in sentimentality. When she finally is reunited with April at the very end, what could have been an icky, maudlin ending instead knocked the wind out of me with its simplicity and honest emotion.

"Pieces of April" just feels like one of those movies that is based on actual events in the life of its writer or director. It's full of tiny details of behavior that make the characters feel completely authentic, rather than creations. And there's a total understanding on everybody's part of the dynamics at play in a family that doesn't always get along and of that tendency of families facing some sort of crisis to latch on to one thing that's pretty mundane in order to avoid dealing with something else that is too big for the individual family members to deal with on its own.

Grade: A