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With Thanksgiving approaching, the film “Pieces of April” is widely available on streaming platforms and makes for a timely, emotionally rich holiday watch.
Why “Pieces of April” Is a Great Thanksgiving Movie
Thanksgiving is a holiday steeped in tradition: Grandma’s cranberry sauce, mom’s decorations, marathon football—the rituals we expect and that popular culture celebrates. What we talk about less is the unspoken tradition many families carry: the drama, tension, and dysfunction (the political divide!) that so many of us anticipate.
For many people, Thanksgiving week kicks off the most psychologically intense stretch of the year. Those in therapy or actively working to improve family relationships often feel the pressure most acutely.
As a therapist, this is a week filled with conversations about anxiety, dread, and longing. Many clients share some version of the basic sentiment: “I’ve built an independent, responsible life, but the moment I walk through the Thanksgiving door, I’m suddenly a miserable teenager all over again.” This is the week when many clients prepare to approach the holiday differently, hoping that by changing themselves, they can influence the family system.
Families Often Resist Even the Healthiest Changes
If your family is accustomed to a parent drinking themself into oblivion each Thanksgiving, for example, and that parent is newly in recovery, this deeply positive shift can unsettle the familiar script. Without the annual drunken spectacle, what will everyone talk about? Similarly, if someone decides to communicate more calmly and with less criticism, that shift may be met with resistance simply because others are expecting the same old conflict.
“Pieces of April,” the 2003 drama written and directed by Peter Hedges and starring Katie Holmes and Patricia Clarkson, captures how difficult breaking old patterns can be. Set entirely on Thanksgiving Day, the film traces two parallel stories: April (Holmes) preparing her first holiday meal for the family she’s long been estranged from, and her family’s reluctant road trip to her gritty New York City apartment.
The frequent use of pay phones and paper road maps firmly places the film in an earlier era, but psychologically, it is timeless. Intense sibling rivalry, humor used as both shield and weapon, culinary disasters, overeating, and denial—all the classic family dynamics of a holiday table—are on full display.
At one point, overwhelmed by the anticipation, Joy (Clarkson) exits the car and attempts to hitchhike home. As her husband runs after her, she shouts: “All I can remember was the petulance, the shoplifting, the fire in the kitchen… the time she used a lighter to cut Jimmy’s bangs, the drugs, the ingratitude… she’s the cancer!”
April’s father tries to reassure her. “We’re making a memory. I promise it will be beautiful… I told her it had to be.”
April knows her role in the family system. When neighbors are stunned to hear she hasn’t visited her mother in ages, she shrugs: “She likes it better that way. I’m the first pancake.”
When one neighbor looks confused, the other clarifies: “She’s the one you’re supposed to throw out.”
One of the film’s sharpest truths is that even when everyone is trying their best, change is still incredibly difficult. Another, portrayed beautifully by Holmes and Clarkson, is that in spite of the difficulty, meaningful change is still possible.
Like April, you may not be able to rewrite your family’s history, but you can author one new moment—a conversation, a meal, a boundary—that reflects the adult you are today. Change rarely follows a convenient schedule. Instead, it builds through brave, consistent, imperfect attempts.
