Pieces of April Opening scene: Acoustic steel guitar sound track Close up of April in bed= implies not ready to get up ” This is your big day we don’t want to miss this opportunity’ Bobby drags April from the bed, shoves her in the shower ” No Bobby’ Bobby starts making thefoodwhile April sits on the toilet saying ” I’m coming” Costume- black eyeliner -black nail polish -tattoos -black boyfriend April is a rebellious person needs someone to help her (in life) egg- Bobby Meeting thefamily: NomusicNo Joy in bed ” JOY JOY’ Tracking shot of father looking through the house for ‘disrupting’ his family frantically looking for Joy both on and daughter Join in search Joy is found in the dark alone in the car (passenger seat) Miss en scene ” everyone get ready’ Joy is controlling.
Starting to prepare Thanks Giving dinner: Bobby in control-stirring, reading packets (close up on Bobby’s hands) April seems incompetent -drops turkey, can’t cut onions, stuffs whole celery in turkey ” They’re probably not even going to come” Cross cut to family ” If not now when” mom) ” What makes her think she can cook all of a sudden ” (Beth) ” April is the problem” (Beth) Everyone questions Joy about how she is feeling- we realize she is not well (two shots) Bobby shows all the stuff he brought: ” Be careful they’re worth more than you are” ” how much did they cost” ” They weren’t cheap…. Accents…. ” Mimi got yourself a deal” April throws them in the bin-still hurt by past experiences, broken relationship with her mother Food as a motif: April is cooking Thanks giving dinner Joy asks her mother ” did you eat” as a greeting Family stops to buy a lot of donuts- Implies they will be hungry because April cant cook. They don’t deserve decorations” (April) April rips up the place card when she writes ‘Mom’ replacing it with ‘Joy showing that he does not see Joy as her mom April is made to seem helpless- Bobby gets her up and ready -Bobby starts cooking – Bobby has organized the decorations -when April discovers the oven doesn’t work the first thing she does is call out the window for Bobby-making mashed potatoes with uncooked potatoes April goes door to door in her apartment block looking for help (later this is an example of her resourcefulness ” Some new piercing, some new ugly tattoos, we can experience the disaster that is her life and go home” Glimpse of hope/change ” apparently this guy Bobby reminds her of me” the girls got problems”- implies that a young middle class girl has an easy life” When April reveals her mother’s impending death the neighbors change the POP ” one last chance to be with the people you love” ” you don’t get along do you” High angle shots of April Cooking the turkey: You haven’t been back Believe it she prefers it that way I’m the first pancake” Discussing about what she is cooking stuffing from a box and cranberry sauce from a can enforces the idea that April cant cool (helpless) but also implies she was not cared for her by her mother We onto want to be early’ Joy -choosing a different route to make the trip Worth’ the time Group shot of April in between the neighbors in their kitchen as they rook and discuss their ‘nothing special’ menu when April discusses her menu, she makes it seem too simple- really nothing special showing the contrast between the intent of making a special ‘last’ family meal and not pitting much thought into it. ” Have you done it before? ” ” Then it’s not nothing” Being taught how to make cranberry sauce implies April has not had this type of experience with her own mother Aprils perseverance in trying to find an oven to chock her turkey shows her change in thought about having a successful ‘last meal’- this is also reinforced when they continue to have thanks giving when her family don’t turn upPhotomotif happymemories: ” Since when was she in the picture? -taking a Christmas photo, fake smiles, ling delay, everyone there but April When Joy gets the family to stop and pretends she wants to talk to them about preparing for her death but instead mocks how bad she expects Aprils cooking to be ” how each of you in your own way is going to handle(pause) discarding your uneaten DOD” -shows her need to manipulate/control her family Irony- Joy thinks April is a screw up but at the same time we see her eating Junk food, smokingdope and alluding to a very sexually promiscuous past. Neighbor Wayne talks about the care you need to take with cooking a turkey (he’s annoying) while April is trying to take care with what she’s cooking- she mocks him tick tock showing her meaner side (like her mother? Memories: 3 shot- Joy leans on Tommy’s shoulders showing her closeness with her son Motif-> photographs (album)- Joy insists on slowing her mother the photos (that Timmy took) f her surgery (breast removal) ” this is my favorite” (without breasts) Series of close ups: April putting food in oven putting up table setting table decorating the apartment black staircase shows she does expect her family to turn up ” That you stop” -contrast between Joys look of illness and Beet’s look of hurt at her mother’s words- you feel sympathy for them both ” Who are you?… My daughter is kind… ” Dotted ” not anymore” Joy ” then I don’t know you” Dotted Reflection ” I am so critical” ” why am I so hard (on Beth)” -Joy reflects on her relationship with her children ” I can only think of one vivid beautiful memory’- turns out that all her good memories of April are really about Beth That makes Joy angry/panic forcing them to stop their Journey ” Petulance, shoplifting, fire in the kitchen, flicking matches at Beth, using a lighter to trim Tommy’s hair, the drugs. ” no wonder I have cancer she’s the cancer I cant have another bad experience Vive had too many bad experiences”‘ Insight into Aprils criminal past when she tries to break into Wane’s apartment with a crow bar ” Bad girl” (Wayne) When she discovers he has stolen a leg she attacks him uniform a bad girl a very bad girl” No I’m not” (sitting alone on the steps (high angle)) The meaning of Thanks Giving ” the first year on their own was hard… Really really hard” -implying this was true for herself as well ” This one day where everyone seemed to know they needed each other… They knew for certain they couldn’t do it on their own. “- implying that this is true for April on this day.
Retrieving the turkey salt n pepper shakers implies she wants to put the past behind her Have a fake turkey leg to replace the missing one implies that everything can be fixed Contrast- April excitedly descends the stairwell to meet her family ” They’re ere…. They’re here” April sadly ascends the stairwell after seeing they have left (destroying her decorations as she goes) Resolution when Joy witnesses a woman leaving her young girl (abandoning her) in the bathroom (with her knickers still around her ankles) she realizes that she has been abandoning April all her life -she is at fault ” Mom, mom” (echoes of the past) Freeze frame (still shots) of everyone having thanks giving together- no dialogue (nothing needs to be said) final family photo (with Bobby)= one last happy memory implying only happy memory before time ran out (sound of the camera sound)
