A Hammer I Was Holding Fell On Them: Pieces of April (2003)

To start off our Girl Power series, I decided to begin with a high note.

Few films have the power to put me in a good mood like Peter Hedges' Pieces of April.

Released in 2003, April quickly became my go-to Thanksgiving film.

It tells the timeless tale of the “black sheep” of a family, a role I'm sure plenty of us have filled at least once in our lives.

It seems this feeling resurfaces for a lot of us particularly around the Holidays, which is why I find the setting of this film on Thanksgiving to be so fitting.

The main character, April, is a 21-year-old living on the Lower East Side of New York with her boyfriend, Bobby. April, who has spent her entire life being not only the outcast of her family, but also cast as the villain, offers to cook a Thanksgiving dinner for her family, due to the fact that her mother is suffering from breast cancer and it is unlikely that she will survive another holiday season.

The viewer sees throughout the film that April's mother, ironically named Joy, is an extremely bitter woman who has only grown more difficult with the progression of her disease. However, it is clear that her problems with April have existed practically since the younger woman's birth.

However, fate plays a part when April discovers her oven does not work, prompting her to go from door to door in her building, asking for help from her neighbors, who she has never interacted with before.

It is this chance occurrence that leads April to form a community, a family of sorts, with her neighbors, along with her boyfriend, who had been the first real support in her life.

Photo credit: Well Done Productions

In the end, it is films like this that remind us that family is not limited to blood, but those who are willing to help us in our time of need.

The fact that April's mother ultimately sees the error of her ways and makes peace with her eldest daughter is simply the icing on the cake.

Coming up next in our Girl Power series, Kill Me Later (2001).

To return to the beginning of the series, click here.