OVP: Pieces of April (2003)

Film: Pieces of April (2003)
Stars: Katie Holmes, Derek Luke, Oliver Platt, Patricia Clarkson, Alison Pill, John Gallagher, Jr., Sean Hayes
Director: Peter Hedges
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Supporting Actress-Patricia Clarkson)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Throughout the history of the Oscars one of the most common recurring themes of the supporting categories has been their devotion to giving certain character actors their moment-in-the-sun.  While this has subsided in recent years with category fraud and leading players like Brad Pitt & Margot Robbie scoring in the supporting categories, it still happens where you see character actors like Laurie Metcalf, Richard E. Grant, & Sam Elliott getting their (likely) one-and-done nominations.  One of these such nominations happened in 2003.  Patricia Clarkson had started appearing in increasingly important roles in movies leading up to 2003, most notably Far From Heaven, which many people predicted would lead her to an Oscar nomination (that ultimately went to Queen Latifah).  In 2003, though, she was having one of those years where she's in virtually every movie, appearing in Dogville, All the Real Girls, The Station Agent, and Pieces of April, which won her her first, and to date, only Oscar nomination.  Thus she will kick off our week devoted to the Best Supporting Actress category, as we'll profile five nominations in the category every day this week.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is two different stories told separately, about the lives of April (Holmes) and her mother Joy (Clarkson).  April lives in a rundown part of Manhattan, a graffitied building, and has clearly had some issues throughout her youth with petty larceny, arson, and drug use, but seems intent on living a better life.  Her suburban family is visiting her at the apartment on her insistence, and on the understanding that with Joy dying of breast cancer, they may never have a moment like this again as a family.  The movie alternates between April, struggling to cook the dinner when her oven breaks down & she needs to rely upon the kindness of her neighbors, and Joy, attempting to find absolution with her impending death & the daughter she never really loved as her own.  In the end, the families after much reflection & struggle, end up having a heartwarming Thanksgiving together.

The movie is short, the kind of film that you'd probably forget you saw were it not for the odd distinction of a picture this slight getting a high-profile acting nomination.  The movie is unusual in the sense that the two lead actresses don't actually have a major moment together in the film; while Holmes & Clarkson do share the screen, they do in a wordless final photo montage showing the successful dinner, but never have a cathartic spoken moment together onscreen, the kind you'd expect to help Clarkson's Oscar chances (which makes me wonder if initially no one thought Clarkson would get a nomination when making this movie).

This is because Pieces of April isn't a successful movie, largely due to Holmes.  I know it's become sport for critics to hate on the former Dawson's Creek actress, and I wonder if a lot of it stems from this film.  She doesn't add any dimensions to this young woman, acting as if she's still a sheltered suburban girl with little real world experience.  The only thing that marks her as a rebel is her dyed hair & heavy eye makeup.  There's no depth in this performance, and no indication of what made April rebel against her mother.  This makes Clarkson's work, which is good, feel less worthy of praise-it's hard to understand why she'd dislike this girl who spends the whole movie just randomly trying to make a Thanksgiving dinner.  In a lot of ways, therefore, it feels simply like the Academy wanting to honor a character actress who had "earned" an Oscar nomination at that point regardless of what film it was for, though one wonders if one of the reasons that Clarkson never returned is that she got in for such a blasé movie.