Pieces of April

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Film: B+

 

 

Every writer is told the same thing: write what you know.  The events surrounding the true story of a mother dying of breast cancer and somebody whose oven breaks down on Thanksgiving Day are the elements that inspired Peter Hedges’ Pieces of April (2003).  Katie Holmes stars as April Burns, a girl estranged from her family who is trying to reconnect with them by preparing the Thanksgiving feast.  It could very well be the last Thanksgiving for her entire family as her mother (played wonderfully by Patricia Clarkson) is dying from breast cancer.  At the same time, April’s father (also played wonderfully by Oliver Platt) tries to convince the rest of his family that their journey to see April is not a waste of time.  However, April’s mother does not make the journey easy as she constantly reminds everyone about the rift between her and April.  She does everything she can to slow the trip down and prolong the inevitable.  Meanwhile, things take a turn for the worse when April’s oven breaks down and she searches her apartment complex for someone willing to help her out.

 

The story itself is very touching and moving.  Peter Hedges has an excellent knack for dialogue and storytelling, making the events that happen believable.  The only part of the story that does not flow well with the rest of the story is the introduction of April’s mother.  The audience first sees her in the family car, ready to go, when the rest of her family is still asleep and taking forever to get ready.  If she is so against going to visit her daughter, why is she the first one ready to go?  But that plot hole aside, the rest of the story is wonderfully told.  It is quite clear from everything that the story holds a special place in Peter Hedges’ heart, as it partially revolves around the story of his own mother dying of breast cancer.  All the acting is superb, especially Sean Hayes, who steals every scene he is in as an anal-retentive neighbor who agrees to help April in her endeavor to finish cooking her turkey.  He makes you love him and hate him at the same time.  Yet, while the acting, dialogue, and story are great, there is nothing special about the movie in its visual style.  The film would have probably served better as a staged play, as it is mostly talking.  There is nothing particularly cinematic about the film and most of the shots are a typical shot/reverse shot of two people talking.  Granted, it is an independent film and that does not leave much room for anything fancy, but there are still so many things to do with a camera that director Peter Hedges does not even utilize them.  Having written some great films like What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? and About A Boy, it is clear that he should just stick to writing and work more on creating a visual style before he tries directing again.

 

The film quality itself is not fantastic, because it was not originated on actual film.  The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image was shot on High Definition Digital Video, the graininess and low lighting in the scenes really take away from some great performance.  As well, many of the scenes are shot using a handheld camera, which really detracts from the scene because everything is so jumpy.  Even when the camera is not moving, the shots are still jumpy.  Given the fact that that this was shot digitally, one would hope that the transfer to DVD would enhance the film quality by being in the same image realm, but the translation is lacking.  Yet, there is grain and dirt in several of the frames which could have easily been cleaned up had any thought been given to that process.  The audio in the film is surprisingly the best technical aspect of the DVD.  Given in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, the sound is near perfect.  It is available in English or French, as well as having optional subtitles in English, French, or Spanish (one wonders where the Spanish audio track is, though).

 

The special features are severely lacking on this DVD.  Available is an optional commentary with writer/director Peter Hedges, the film’s theatrical trailer, a 15-minute featurette entitled “All the Pieces Together,” and 12, yes, count them, 12 trailers from other MGM titles also available for DVD.  The featurette provides a minor look into the making of the film, but it mostly has the actors talk about their characters and what they added to the film, but anyone can pick up on those things just by watching the film.  Peter Hedges provides a bit of insight about how he got the idea for the film and what he wanted from the film.  However, the most shocking thing is that this featurette becomes completely useless when watching the film with the audio commentary on, as all the exact same information available in the featurette is available in the commentary!  The commentary itself, however, is actually very good.  Hedges provides some great information about what it took to get this film made and some extra details on the scenes in the film.  Overall, Peter gives the film more depth in what it is he has to say.  Also, that he loves his editor and composer, because he has to mention their praise for them in every scene.  The most annoying thing, though, was the overload of trailers for other films!  In his commentary, Peter Hedges raves about the auditions from Derek Luke and Alison Pill that MGM should have put them onto the DVD.  He also mentions a deleted scene that was cut from the movie, which actually would have been nice to see, but alas, no.  Instead, MGM shamelessly self-promotes other films in their library.

 

All in all, the film is pretty predictable, but there are some great moments in the story that just make you smile, even if you could see them coming a mile away.  Peter Hedges’ takes to heart the old adage of writing what you know and does a pretty good job of doing so.

 

 

-   Antonio Lopez