Thanks to Vittoria for letting us know about this on the mb :) These reviews/synopsis of Pieces of April and The Singing Detective are from the 2003 Sundance Film Festival site. I'm not sure if the person who wrote them actually saw the films or not, but he liked Katie's performances so it's all good :) Pieces of April Of all holidays, there is something about Thanksgiving that seems to bring out the worst in family gatherings, and in his incisive and spirited melodrama Pieces of April, Peter Hedges examines the preparations for one family's festive dinner - one you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy, The black sheep of the family, April Burns, has for some reason agreed to host her family in the dilapidated tenement home she shares with her boyfriend Bobby. And as if preparing a holiday feast up to her mother's standards, a mother she doesn't exactly have an ideal relationship with, isn't enough, the oven doesn't work, and April must canvass her neighbors in search of a substitute. With her family on the way from suburban Pennsylvania, recounting not exactly positive memories about April, and April knee-deep in the various idiosyncrasies of neighbors she has never spoken to before, the two narrative trains hurtle toward each other as we await the seemingly inevitable collision. Displaying the talent for writing characters and situations that stray from the norm that he showcased in What's Eating Gilbert Grape and About a Boy, Hedges has created a marvelously fun ride that takes unexpected turns and ends up in our hearts. With a sensational cast - Katie Holmes as April and Patricia Clarkson as her mother are especially memorable - this is another digital delight from the team that produced Tadpole. -Geoffrey Gilmore (80 min) Sundance screenings from Jan 19-24 -------------------------------------- The Singing Detective There is a lot of risk in undertaking to remake something as superb in it's original version as Dennis Potter's TV miniseries, The Singing Detective (1986). But this reimagining for film, an adaptation Potter himself completed shortly before his death, including the creation of a new contex for his noirish universe that is set in America, works beautifully in Keith Gordon's jewel of a film. An outstanding performance by Robert Downey Jr., anchors this psychological drama that mixes, sometimes smashes, disparate genres together to create a combination of a surreal rock 'n' roll musical, expressionist noir thriller, and fevered character study, a work that is wildly original. Mel Gibson, whose company produced and financed this multilayered inquiry into a tortured soul, plays a character different from any you've seen him portray before Unsuccessful crime novelist Dan Dark lies in a hospital bed, covered from head to toe with a debilitating psoriasis and wracked by inner torments, drugs, and pain that drive him to conjure up the most paranoid hallucinations of his marriage and fading career. His bitter and sardonic ravings bring him into the eccentric care of Dr. Gibbon (Gibson), who slowly aids the despairing Dark to use his imagination and it's creations as a bridge into himself, so he can find resolution. A genuinely brilliant cast - Robin Wright Penn and Katie Holmes are especially notable - distinctive camerawork, and terrific art design all contribute to this unique blend of fantasy and reality that truly transports the viewer to a magical realm. -Geoffrey Gilmore (109 minutes) Sundance screenings from Jan 17-19

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