MovieMartyr.com - Pieces of April

Since it belongs to the burgeoning, and consistently syrupy, Thanksgiving movie genre, one must go into Peter Hedges’ Pieces of April expecting a certain degree of frank sentimentality. It’s placed under a transparent film of what passes for reality in indie movies in Pieces of April, but unembarrassed emotional outbursts are certainly as present here as in such movies as What’s Cooking? and Home for the Holidays. The unique spin of April shows us the first Thanksgiving of a girl (the titular April, played by Katie Holmes), who finds herself not going home for the holiday, because her home is now somewhere else. As expected, much of the film’s run time shows April as she desperately scrambles to prepare her family’s feast. She drops the turkey on the floor, uses a bed sheet as a tablecloth, and attempts to mash uncooked potatoes. It’s routine stuff, but Holmes is appealing, bringing a bit of bad-girl sass to a role that might otherwise be a bit tough to bear.

With jump cuts, handheld camera work, generally indifferent compositions and natural lighting, Pieces of April essentially has the slapdash aesthetic of a Dogma film. As commonplace as that look is becoming, one can’t really deny that the unfettered proximity to the action that it provides makes scenarios that might feel more contrived play more realistically when the actors in the moment. The acting in the film is something of a mixed bag, though, ranging from Patricia Clarkson’s smartly realized portrayal of April’s mother to the shallowly conceived depiction of April’s ex-boyfriend. Clarkson has the most satisfying arc of any of the performers, demonstrating, by turns, total control, complete helplessness, and amusing callousness in the face of death. But it seems that for every moment that she or Holmes nails, there’s a supporting role as broad and useless as Sean Hayes’ inexplicable turn as April’s oddball neighbor.

Because of the lack of directorial chops, and inconsistent performances, Pieces of April comes off as a writer’s movie, but it’s unfortunately not that well-written. The entire thing reeks of a liberal agenda, common to such indie fare. Without much difficulty, it can be seen as a message movie in which the implication is that the squares from the suburbs need to loosen up and love the black man. Though it’s never explicitly stated that her suburban family isn’t aware of the fact, April is dating Bobby (Derek Luke), a black guy that the movie wastes a lot of time following, only to set up a horribly contrived climax. The pot-smoking cancer patient played by Clarkson huffs a joint and then tells her son to “roll it tighter next time”, whereas her hopelessly uncool husband, played by Oliver Platt in what seems to be a mild variation of his character from Bulworth, cites James Brown, Barry White, and “Puffy Dog” as proof that he’s down with black music. When they inevitably are faced with her daughter’s boyfriend, it’s impossible to say that their negative reaction is prompted by his race, but that’s typical of the movie’s desire to skirt edgy territory in the least offensive manner. Other attempts to integrate multiculturalism into April’s holiday, which present themselves as she interacts with the other people in her apartment, are thankfully less strained. The Daytrippers mined the conflicts that arise between city-dwelling children and their suburban parents with much better results on both the comedic and dramatic front. That being said, the sum of April’s obvious flaws can’t undo its sincerity.

09-30-03

Jeremy Heilman