Ray Pride

The only thing more frightening in prospect than a dysfunctional family Thanksgiving is a comedy about a dysfunctional Thanksgiving.

The performances in "Pieces of April," however, have an authentic vitality. While the story of a family that may be sharing its last Thanksgiving at their eldest daughter's Lower East Side apartment has its cutely quirky moments, first-time director Peter Hedges knows his way with actors. Mom (Patricia Clarkson) has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and prodigal daughter April (Katie Holmes) wants to bring everyone, including her younger brother and sister and dotty Grandmother together. But, horrors! Her oven doesn't work, so she has to canvas door-to-door in her tenement building to find someone who can help her cook her turkey before the parents arrive.

Shot on digital video in sixteen days for under $300,000 after two earlier productions collapsed, "Pieces of April" boasts two truly memorable performances: the always-thrilling Patricia Clarkson, acidulous, genuine; and Katie Holmes' April, kitted out as some kind of scatty privileged kewpie-punk. April Burns is one of the great movie black sheep in memory. Holmes' performance as a sweet fuck-up is inspired, as if past directors had seen only a lanky, very pretty woman and kept their distance. "It became so clear the first time I met her," Hedges says, with his customary gusto. "She responded to the material in a very strong way. It spoke to her in ways that a script might not always to a younger actor. Some people could look at this script and just say she's a girl trying to cook a turkey, what's the big deal? But Katie got it, it was clear from our conversation. It was clear, too, that she was eager to do something surprising."

Hedges gushes as well about Clarkson's "fearlessness." He says one of the movie's "covert agendas" is for Clarkson to "be given every award for acting there is. She is a beautiful, funny woman but she is not afraid to show an unseemly or inappropriate side."

What's the secret to getting such a sturdy cast to work for scale? "You give them something they ache to do. The fact that Katie's so terrific in the movie is completely a tribute to her. She was willing to work without the trailer and all the perks and comforts people in her position get used to. And she stayed with it through every trial, and I think if anybody had permission to bail when we moved to [the lower budget], it was Katie. She wrapped ["Dawson's Creek"] on December 1, and then came to New York to work in conditions that were kind but never comfortable. I just think the world of her. If I were to have a daughter, I would just pray she grew up to be Katie Holmes. And the other thing, over the years, I've met the girls, the handful of girls who are in every movie. The one thing I know about Katie is she's flown coach in her life. And she remembers. It was really important on our movie, there was nothing extra. It was just the work."

The 41-year-old actor-turned-playwright-novelist-screenwriter trained as an actor at the North Carolina School of the Arts. His enthusiasm seems to have gotten him through a number of career-shifting bad patches throughout his career. "My joke is that when I was at school, the harder I worked, the better everyone else got. I probably tried too hard. While I was there, I started writing plays to prove to the faculty and other students what talented actors they were. In so doing, I found that I could write plays that seemed to impact people. I've always wanted to direct a film."

Hedges got an Oscar nomination for co-writing the adaptation of "About a Boy," but his education began on another set, when Lasse Hallstrom allowed him to observe the making of "What's Eating Gilbert Grape." But with one film under his belt, he remains impressed by digital video's handiness. "I come from the theater, so the gift of the small camera is that you can do long takes, you don't have to constantly cut and reload it. It felt to me like I was back in rehearsal room with really good actors."

"Pieces of April" opens Friday.

(2003-10-23)

Also by Ray Pride

Tip of the Week
Here's the real kill-thrill: the ridiculously prolific Takashi Miike's "Ichi the Killer" tops even his "Audition" for slashingly stylized mayhem.
(2003-10-22)

Tip of the Week
While documentary is one of the great hopes of contemporary storytelling, not enough attention has yet been paid in the U.S. to traditions in other countries
(2003-10-16)

Chemistry project
Mark Decena's "Dopamine" is a modest but impressive and memorable story of love in the modern world
(2003-10-16)

Precious moments
Spanish director Isabel Coixet's English-language debut is a sweet and lyrical, luxuriantly hued confection about what legacy we might leave if we knew we were dying
(2003-10-16)

Short Runs
(2003-10-16)

Tip of the Week
(2003-10-08)

Thrill kill
(2003-10-08)

An imperfect world
(2003-10-08)

Chicago International Film Festival
(2003-10-08)

Short Runs
(2003-10-08)

Short Runs
(2003-10-02)

Chicago International Film Festival
(2003-10-02)

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