Movie Reviews

2003 Sundance Film Festival
Movie Reviews

Pieces Of April

Director and screenwriter Peter Hedges has a hit on his hands with this incredible feature film starring Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, Derek Luke, Allison Pill, Sean Hayes and Oliver Platt.

Hedges made this amazing movie as a tribute to his mother who died of cancer a couple of years ago. He cried as he told the story of this and so did most of the audience. Some ideas came from pieces of his life and some ideas stemmed from a postcard he received from a girl he was attracted to who he met on a train one day before he was married.

The casting was perfect. The great script had lots of laughs and some heart wrenching scenes towards the end. This was somewhat a National Lampoons vacation with heart & soul.

It was shot in 16 days in New York with many of the cast & crew owning a piece of the movie and working for zilch. The film was shot digitally for reasons such as financial. Hedges said that really good scripts can be shot on digital. Not so great scripts cannot carry digital very well.

Katie Holmes plays the black sheep of her family. A young girl who has left her family to live in New York City and to live a life far removed from that of her upbringing. On Thanksgiving Day, she prepares to make dinner for her family who are coming into the city to see her and meet her new boyfriend. Her oven breaks down and she is forced to find a friendly neighbor with an oven she can use. Keep in mind she is living in a poor neighborhood in NY and not everyone wants to loan their oven out to a stranger.

A must see movie for everyone who wants to laugh and experience a memorable movie.

~Sheila, February 2003

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