Pieces of April

Pieces of April
Girl with pigtails, her hair dyed red with dark streaks
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Peter Hedges
Produced by Gary Winick
Written by Peter Hedges
Starring
Music by Stephin Merritt
Cinematography Tami Reiker
Edited by Mark Livolsi
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • October 17, 2003 (2003-10-17)
Running time
 81 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $300,000[1]
Box office $3.3 million[1]

Pieces of April is a 2003 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Peter Hedges. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. The name is taken from a 1972 hit song by Three Dog Night, which reached No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Plot

April Burns, the eldest daughter in a highly dysfunctional family, lives in a small tenement apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with her boyfriend Bobby. Although estranged from her family, she opts to invite them for Thanksgiving dinner, probably the last for her mother Joy, who has breast cancer.

The film focuses on three journeys: the family's arduous trek from suburbia to New York City; April's preparations for the meal, made much more difficult when she discovers her oven is broken; and Bobby's efforts to find a suit so he can make a good impression on his girlfriend's relatives. During the family's journey, we learn about Joy and April's relationship - and, in a crucial moment, we see an insight Joy gains about her relationship with her daughter. During April's journey, she meets many of her neighbors and establishes city-family relationships with them, as we see during the final meal. Bobby's journey ends with a return to the gathering that is an exact capture of White America's stereotypes of black men.

All these journeys tie together in the final scenes of reconciliation and hope for the future.

Cast

  • Katie Holmes as April Burns, a young woman living alone in New York City, who decides to make a Thanksgiving dinner for her family in her small and poor apartment, despite the fact that she has never gotten along with them.
  • Derek Luke as Bobby, April's sweet boyfriend, who is very much in love with her.
  • Oliver Platt as Jim Burns, April's father, who has real hope that April and the rest of the family can have a nice Thanksgiving dinner together.
  • Patricia Clarkson as Joy Burns, April's mom, who is very sick with breast cancer, who is very hesitant to go to April's home because she has been so angry at her for so long.
  • Alison Pill as Beth Burns, April's younger sister, who feels the family should not even try to have dinner with April, since that would be too stressful for her mom.
  • John Gallagher Jr. as Timmy Burns, April's younger brother, who loves to take pictures of everything going on in his family.
  • Alice Drummond as Grandma Dottie, April's grandmother and Joy's mom, who is both very sweet and losing her memory.
  • Sean Hayes as Wayne, April's very strange upstairs neighbor who agrees to let her use his oven after her own oven stops working.
  • Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Eugene
  • Lillias White as Evette, a tenant in April's building she asks for help
  • Leila Danette as a tenant in April's building she asks for help
  • Sisqó as Latrell
  • Adrian Martinez as Man in Mohair Sweater

Production

In his commentary on the film's DVD release, Hedges says the inspiration for his screenplay was twofold — his mother's battle with and death from cancer and a true story about a group of friends who had "borrowed" an apartment to prepare a communal Thanksgiving dinner. However, the oven in the apartment did not work so they had to go door to door in the building, trying to find an oven in which to cook their turkey.

Shot in just 16 days on a budget of $100,000. Costs were kept this low by the film company InDigEnt cutting a deal with the unions. This meant that Peter Hedges was paid $10 to direct the film, and another $10 to write it. All the actors worked for $248 a day.

Reception

Critical response

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 84% based on reviews from 146 critics, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The site’s critical consensus reads, "Pieces of April transcends its small-scale setting and budget with endearing performances, playful humor, and genuine sweetness, resulting in a touching holiday treat."[2]

Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times, called the film an "intelligent and touching farce" and added, "Mr. Hedges dances from one vignette to another with a mouthwatering finesse."[3] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said "it contains much good humor" and "has a lot of joy and quirkiness; it's well-intentioned in its screwy way, with flashes of human insight, and actors who can take a moment and make it glow."[4] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine, described it as "a playful comedy laced with heartbreak," adding, "It's Holmes who holds Pieces together . . . [she] nails every laugh without missing the dramatic nuances. She makes April and her movie well worth knowing."[5] Carla Meyer of the San Francisco Chronicle called the film " both heartfelt and tough-minded . . . [it] avoids sentimentality at every turn and truly earns both its laughs and its tears."[6]

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly, rated the film C, calling it a "glib comedy" and adding, "Hedges shoves his characters into sitcom slots and seals them there."[7]

Box office

The film earned a total of approximately $3.2 million worldwide.[1]

Awards and nominations

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=piecesofapril.htm
  2. ↑ "Pieces of April (2003)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster.
  3. ↑ Elvis Mitchell (2003-10-07). "FILM REVIEW; Second Helpings Of Hollow Cheer". New York Times.
  4. ↑ Roger Ebert (2003-10-24). "Pieces of April". Chicago Sun-Times.
  5. ↑ Travers, Peter (October 9, 2003). "Pieces of April". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  6. ↑ Carla Meyer (2003-10-24). "Fraught holiday in 'Pieces of April'". San Francisco Chronicle.
  7. ↑ Owen Gleiberman (2003-10-31). "Pieces Of April (2003)". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.