Pieces of April
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Movie Reviews of Pieces of April
Movie Review: "Beware the occasion that requires a new suit"
Summary: 5 Stars
There is something absolutely amazing about "Pieces of April", the story of a 21-year old family black sheep who has invited her suburban family up to New York for a Thanksgiving feast that she has no idea how to prepare. April, played by Katie Holmes, has been estranged from her entire family for a long time, especially because of the horrible relationship she has with her mother, played venemously by Patricia Clarkson. The mother, Joy, is dying of cancer, causing even more strain on the relationship and bringing in the several themes of this movie. One could call this a movie about family, or about the holidays, but I don't know if this is the whole point. This is about regret, and redemption, and being able to forget about the past and try to move on to a brighter future.
I have to say that I had never seen a family that is filled with so much hatred, as the entire family (save the father, played wonderfully by Oliver Platt) seems pitted against April, and completely convinced that her Thanksgiving will fail. I was impressed at the hate Clarkson acted with, really allowing the audience to lose sympathy for her despite her frail state and inevitable death.
I have to talk about the acting of Katie Holmes, because she is an absolute revelation in this film. So far in her film career, she has picked smaller roles, and acted them wonderfully. Examples of this are "The Gift", "The Ice Storm" and her incredible performance in "Wonder Boys". She has only made a couple of attempts at lead roles, and those were in more teen-oriented movies such as "Abandon" and "Teaching Mrs. Tingle". But in "Pieces of April" she shows that she can not only be the lead star in a movie, but excel in such a role. She will be an actress to be reckoned with in Hollywood if she keeps making such wise career decisions as this one, and avoids the trappings that most twentysomething actresses fall into. I could not imagine anyone else in this role, and her actions speak as loudly as her words in this movie, much to her credit.
Credit should also go to Derek Luke, who plays April's boyfriend Bobby, and the only real source of love in her life. This movie is all about the interaction of the characters, including the variety of neighbors that April must interact with when her stove breaks down, sending her into desperation mode. Sean Hayes of "Will and Grace" also makes an appearance, playing an extremely anil retentive man with a new stove. His performance is probably the weakest part of the movie, as he needed a little more direction that could have made him even creepier or stranger.
At only one hour and fifteen minutes, "Pieces of April" is very short, which is another reason to see it. It does not take much time, although you will feel as though you have been through a journey after watching it. As far as I'm concerned, this movie is a can't miss, and one of the best of the year to date.
Movie Review: Shining, Brilliant, Hysterical
Summary: 5 Stars
I had heard of this movie years ago and thought the premise sounded funny, but never made any effort to see it. I happened to notice it in the video store the other day and when I saw that Sean Hayes was in it, my memory of it came back and I thought, "Okay, sure, with Sean, it has to be at least entertaining."
I really wasn't prepared for how deeply funny, sad, and brilliant this little film was.
Let's get past the problems first: Bad lighting, amateurish camera angles, okay, yes. But the story about wayward reject April (Katie Holmes, who was so brilliant and perfect that I can't understand what has happened to her career -- oh right; Tom; oops!) and her desperate attempt to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for her estranged family, in the most hellish apartment building in NYC, is superb.
Some of the lines come out of nowhere and just force you to laugh, they are so funny and true. And Patricia Clarkson as the mother with cancer and Oliver Platt as her loving, keep-positive-at-all-times husband, were just simply outstanding.
The movie keeps moving at all times and along with its funny-tragic plot, and its sad little subplot of boyfriend Bobby (Derek Luke) trying to find a nice suit to impress April's family, just takes a hold of you and drags you in to this dysfunctional family's world and insists you go along for the ride, whether you like it or not.
Sean Hayes did not have the big part I thought he did, but indicated without a shadow of doubt his off-kilter comic timing that cinched him the part of Jack on "Will & Grace." The only thing that was questionable is why in the world would he have been living in this delapidated hell-hole with his purebreed dog and his spanking new oven? The other residents, including a nutcase vegan, a staggeringly funny Lillias White as the woman who first lets April into her apartment to use her oven (for a few hours), and an entire Chinese family who patiently listen to April's valiant attempt to explain the history of the United States -- all of it was just outstanding. I loved it, loved it, loved it. (Did I say I loved it?)
Yes, you will have to get over the atrocious lighting (hello people -- ever hear of LIGHTS?), and if you have claustrophobia you might freak out at the feeling of being in tight, crammed little apartments, but if you can get past those things and you enjoy out-there humor with a tinge of tragedy, you're in for a treat. Thumbs up all the way.
Movie Review: Displaced family dysfunction
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Movie Review: Sweetness and pain
Summary: 5 Stars
I've seen largely glowing reviews, but a few highly critical ones of this movie. I suspect part of the problem is with the brain-dead who are responsible for packaging feature movies and write the blurbs on the back. When good movies come along that are complex, it's hard to write a catchy synopsis in 120 words, so you leave with what you think is a Katie Holmes snack and come home with a complex Thanksgiving feast. What the back of the box should say is: "Pay attention. This is life. It's funny, it's sad, and it will break your heart. And make you laugh. For fluff see two boxes over."There's a lot going on here in a very short space of time and comparatively little dialogue - as much is said with what goes unsaid. This is two stories that are threaded together - one half is the journey of the skeptical family bearing their terminally ill mother - once merely over-critical but now positively acidic since terminal cancer has freed her of any concerns about how her comments are received. The other is the troubled, distanced daughter - the "first pancake" (the one you throw out) - who is trying to prepare a last gesture of a Thanksgiving meal at the behest of the men in her life, without any of the basic tools for the undertaking. It is the last minute discovery that her oven doesn't work that drives her into the arms of strangers in her apartment building who may or may not spare her space in their oven, and, metaphorically, in their own stories.
I feel it's important to say when something in a movie rings particularly true, and in this case, the author wrote this while his mother was dying of cancer. He does not blanche from the illness of Clarkson's character in this movie, and it is the source of much of the emotional immediacy as well as of the black humor. Those who have survived this degree of illness, or who have shepherded family through it will recognize that peculiar black sense of humor that comes from being set apart in the way that systemic life-threatening illness does. If you're "part of the club", this movie will leave you alternately laughing out loud and crying in your seat.
Most features spend 2 hours without getting this much out there. Kudos to the writer/director, and to the cast for their exceptional grace in this film!
Movie Review: Pieces of Genius
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow. How this incredibly satisfying little independent film didn't garner more attention during its brief theatrical release is an absolute mystery to me. I heard of it via the Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination for Patricia Clarkson (whose work I've always been attracted to), and I picked it up for a view before the Academy Awards to see what she had done. Little did I know that virtually every performance in this sweet film could easily have garnered a Best Supporting nod.April (the ever-more-lovely Katie Holmes) -- the black sheep of the typical American family -- faces the daunting challenge of 'piecing' together a Thanksgiving day meal for her family. As it turns out, the meal will more than likely be the last for her mother (Clarkson) as she is suffering from terminal cancer. The narrative gravitates between three storylines: (1) April racing around the apartment building desperately in need of help in completing the dinner; (2) her boyfriend's quest to find a great looking suit with which to make a great impression on April soon-to-arrive family; and (3) April's family driving from wherever to April's seedy city apartment for dinner.
What works best about PIECES OF APRIL is the story: entirely believeable and poignant, the viewer gets captured by April's antics at dealing with unreasonable neighbors as well as Clarkson offering tips about 'rolling a better joint' to her young "photog" son. All of these moments are infused with as much whimsy as they are heartache; these moments point up the utter chaos that IS the modern family, but they also point toward a hope for the future in, as Oliver Platt puts it, "building new memories."
The urban aspect to APRIL works but basically serves as a narrative hook against which to compare and contrast the expectations the small-town family has. Largely, it serves as a source for laughter, which works, too.
The ending, however, really deserves mention. It trickles up almost unpredictably, and it delivers such an emotional wallop -- sensitive without being senselessness -- that I would find anyone hard pressed to walk away from this film without a serious lump in the throat.
Immediately after viewing, I went out and bought my own copy. It's just that good.