Dom Robinson reviews
Pieces of April
She's the one in every family.
Distributed by
MGM
Producer:
Alexis Alexanian, John S Lyons & Gary Winick
Screenplay:
Music:
Cast:
April Burns: Katie Holmes
Bobby: Derek Luke
Jim Burns: Oliver Platt
Beth Burns: Alison Pill
Timmy Burns: John Gallagher Jr
Joy Burns: Patricia Clarkson
Grandma Dottie: Alice Drummond
Evette: Lillias White
Eugene: Isiah Whitlock Jr
Latrell: Sisqó
Wayne: Sean Hayes
Tyrone: Armando Riesco
What first struck me about the clips I saw from Pieces of April
was that this appeared to be a low-key and low-budget film that actually had actors who could act,
and a story that actually garnered interest. Thankfully, in the most part, I was not wrong.
The entire film takes place on Thanksgiving Day, not something we have in the UK - although many
will give thanks on the day when Tony Blair resigns, but the only WMD on display here are Katie
Holmes' weapons of mass distraction. Back to the plot, though, and for those not familiar
with the celebrations, you cook a turkey, rather like we might do for Xmas.
As the day begins, April Burns' (Katie Holmes) first task of the day is to prepare, stuff and
cook said bird. She's worked out perfectly how long it's going to take. This is a special day
like no other, because it's going to feed her whole, dysfunctional, family and her boyfriend Bobby (Derek Luke),
yet when the time comes... her cooker's broken down (witness her dangerously testing it with a naked
flame), so she tries her luck round the apartment block, full of oddballs and weirdos - and some
nice people - on the busiest cooking day of the year to see if anyone else can help.
It plays out like a road movie for April - despite the fact she never leaves the building - so I
don't want to spoil anything that happens, as
writer/director Peter Hedges cleverly fills in all the inbetweens, bringing out the full
flavour of the individuals she comes across in the building - Eugene and Evette, the fat black
couple; the man who hated his mother yet would love to see her again - and has an unwelcoming look
about his apartment; and Wayne (Sean Hayes, above-right with Holmes), the posh puff further upstairs in 5D.
At the other end of things are April's family who are coming to her "home" and going to meet Bobby
for the first time. April's siblings, Alison Pill as Beth and John Gallagher Jr fulfil
their roles when they need to play up against their parents as well as being touching, and I'm
wondering if the character Grandma Dottie (Alice Drummond, aka the Librarian at the
beginning of
Ghostbusters)
was so called because she's really not all there? Either way, there's more welcome contributions
from parents Jim (Oliver Platt) and Joy (Patricia Clarkson), particularly the
latter as Clarkson puts on a fantastic performance as a young mother struggling with illness
(of which I won't divulge here, as the revelation and images will hit you like a hammer),
which will mean this is the last Thanksgiving dinner she'll ever experience.
This film does an expert job when, on the occasions that it's needed, it cuts you to the
quick from making you laugh out loud, such as April first taking the turkey from the sink,
to bringing about the full reality of how sick Joy is. The only real weak link seems to
be the character of Bobby. While April's up to her eyes in a culinary catastrophe, he's
off on a mission that makes him look like he's up to no good with a scam to bring home
the bacon with his mate Latrell (the rapper, Sisqó), yet he's just buying a
cheap suit. However, does anyone know what those electronic numbers - some staying static,
some increasing quickly while some decrease - on the front of the Circuit City building
mean? I just couldn't work it out.
For fans of L'Holmes, though, I thought she was stunning throughout - it's in the eyes as well as
her perfect body, even though she's meant to be looking a little bit daggy. The
IMDB
has her height listed as 5'10", but I always had her figured for a bit of a short-arse, around 5'4",
and my preference is for women of my height, 5'7" or under. She also looks very
buxom in this movie, although a picture printed in the paper in late May 2004
showed her breasts to be rather akin to a pair of deflated balloons that haven't
been taken down since Christmas. Still, I'll cross that bridge if and when
I come to it.
Filmed and presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen (there's also a 4:3 version if you so desire,
although if you can't accept a 16:9 image on a 4:3 TV then you don't deserve to live), this movie
was shot on a digital video camera for that requisite, intimate feeling, giving the film a purposely
washed-out look. That's not to say it looks bad to watch but it's difficult to assess the quality
of the print but I certainly didn't notice any problems.
Soundwise, it's a drama not a science-fiction blast, so the DD5.1 sound doesn't do a massive
amount. It does do the job though, and got those same open/close door sounds I've heard in
Cold Feet
and the late 90s PC game SiN.
The brief extras are as follows:
20 chapters, subtitles in English, French and Spanish, plus static and
silent menus. Worth a rental for sure. Worth buying if you think Katie Holmes
is gorrrrrrrrrrrgeous. :)
The extras on the Region 2 DVD, released June 2004 in the UK, contains
more or less the same extras, only losing out on the trailers for other
films and programmes. Also, the menus are done differently, but certainly
nothing worth buying two versions for.
FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
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OVERALL
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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2004.
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DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
