Pieces of April - Among the Best of 2003

[tabuno]

Belatedly, I watched Pieces of April on a rented DVD and I wished I had seen in earlier. Patricia Clarkson's Oscar nomination was well deserved. This little gem of a movie blends the zaniness of a single day in the life of a young women trying desperately to redeem herself to her crazy family and the miserable time she encounters in attempting to put on the best Thanksgiving dinner of her life.

The acting, the insane obstacles, the emotional ups and downs, the little vignettes that occur in the apartment complex, the family trip to April's apartment with a deathly sick mother. This movie easily competes with Lost In Translation for being sensitively amusing but also for probing deeper and revealing even more humanity than Lost In Translation - bringing us even closer to the important concepts of life.

One of the best movies of 2003 - this movie was severely overlooked and under-rated.

Nine out of Ten Stars.

[oscar jubis]

Peter Hedges, who wrote About a Boy and Who's Eating Gilbert Grape, makes his debut as director with this 80-minute Thanksgiving reunion DV feature. Katie Holmes is endearing in the title role. A contrivance here and there didn't affect my enjoyment of Pieces of April, which strongly resembles The Daytrippers, with Hope Davis and Parker Posey. My daughter told me she was surprised a film starring the popular Katie Holmes received so little publicity. Most of her friends(young teens) didn't know about it. I strongly recommend a rental, particularly if you watch sitcoms.

[JustaFied]

Coincidently, I also rented this movie this weekend and watched it today. I agree that it was a rather underrated film from last year, though Clarkson was nominated for the Oscar and the film was nominated in the low-budget award category at the Independent Spirit Awards.

It did have the same delicate feel as "Lost in Translation", though the camerawork and the cinematography weren't as strong in this film, probably a result of a tighter budget. Writing and acting were excellent; I'd give it more credit than a sitcom comparison.

It also reminded me of "In America" a bit, particularly in creating an extended family out of the different residents in a New York City run-down apartment building. I found the characters and the situations in this film to be more believable than those in "In America".