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

Joy Burns: [Joy is smoking marijuana in a convenience store bathroom] Honey, roll it tighter next time.
Timmy Burns: Sorry, mom.

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Crazy Credits

Special thanks to ... The Cata Family, ... Elan, Scott, Ira and all the tenants of 176 Suffolk Street.

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Connections

Featured in Ego Trip's Race-O-Rama (2005)

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Soundtracks

"The Well Tempered Guitar"
Written by Johann Sebastian Bach (as J.S. Bach)
Performed by John Woo

User Reviews

The best Thanksgiving movie ever

Thanksgiving has always meant a lot to me. Unlike the stereotypical depiction of the holiday from movies, I always found it to be, beyond any other day of the year, the day when my family is the closest. Differences and resentments fade for a day, possibly because we're Midwesterners of German descent and there's nothing we like more than food. Whatever the reason, it's a pleasant holiday for me. Pieces of April captures the way I feel about Thanksgiving perfectly, and it moved me as deeply as any movie I can think of. It has a few flaws, a few things that could have been changed for the better, but its overall effect made me overjoyed and emotionally crushed at the same time. Patricia Clarkson was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as a mother of three dying of breast cancer. She's not a very nice person, and she's not too pleased with the way her life has come out. Katie Holmes plays April, Clarkson's eldest daughter. She lives in a crummy apartment in NYC and has invited her family to Thanksgiving dinner, most likely to be her mother's last. Unfortunately, Holmes finds that her oven doesn't work. She desperately searches the other apartments in her building for someone who isn't using their oven. A third track follows April's black boyfriend who rides his motorized scooter around the city for reasons that are at first obscure. It's a comedy, and a very, very funny one at that, but the themes of family and past injuries are remarkably touching. Clarkson is amazing, and she is the most obviously impressive performer in the film. However, Katie Holmes really proves herself to be one of the best actresses of her generation; her role is much more subtle and complex than Clarkson's. Oliver Platt plays April's father, and he also gives a subtle performance as the person trying to unite the family before his wife is gone. The only thing that really bothered me was the character of Wayne (played by Sean Hayes), one of the apartment dwellers whom April asks for help. He agrees to help her, but he thinks that she owes him something big, i.e., sex. That's surely believable, but the character is played as a goofy, eccentric cartoon character. It's far below the standard of the rest of the film. It reminds me a lot of Mickey Rooney's character in Breakfast at Tiffany's, an underthought splotch on what is otherwise a masterpiece. I wonder if it will have anywhere near as powerful an effect on others as it did on me (I wept for nearly a half an hour, and occasionally sobbed for almost an hour after that), but I am certainly more than willing to stick up for a movie like this that I really believe in. 10/10.