Pieces of April

This is an interesting movie. Interesting in that it’s not your normal sit-back-and-enjoy Hollywood movie. Though that is what I was expecting, and was probably what I needed; a decent comedy to lift my spirits.

What I got instead was a kind of neurotic road trip.

Katie Holmes plays April, the eldest daughter of a very dysfunctional family. It seems she did the only sensible thing and left home as soon as she could. In the process she made herself the black sheep of the family. In all fairness, she could have been the black sheep before she left, who knows.

But any way, her mum now has cancer, and her time is coming to an end, and to try and make amends, April decides to cook a special Thanksgiving dinner and invite the family.

Most of the humour (if you can call it that) comes from April’s attempts to cook – the main problem being that her oven has broken down, and living in a run down apartment building she has to try and find neighbours who will help.

The film has two main points of focus for me – the best being how April, who has just moved to this building is forced to meet some of her neighbours and discover that there are people who actually care – even if they are few compared to that whacko’s in the same building, and in the end manages to bring them together and show them love in return.

The second point of focus is April’s family, and how a strong and apparently one time loving mother, has become bitter, controlling and unloving due to the blight of cancer. The biggest highlight of the movie is Oliver Platt’s role as the husband/father who tries to put a positive light on his eldest daughter despite the barrage of negativity from the youngest daughter and mother. Even the son seems to want to smooth things a little, but then his very dysfunctional relationship with his mother seems to win out every time.

This is a peculiar movie that shows how to be a terrible mother, but also shows, if somewhat too fleetingly, that all things can be redeemed if everyone is prepared to give some one the chance.

Slow and tedious at times, but an interesting start for a conversation.