You might know the name Peter Hedges. He's the writer of the screenplays for What's Eating Gilbert Grape and About a Boy. His debut film as a director is an understated Thanksgiving film called Pieces of April, a shot-on-digital-video production that might mark the start of an interesting career. Most of the film is compelling in a sweet way, and although it has some odd flaws, it will stay with you thanks to its casual humor, a few strong characters, and its performances.

April Burns (Katie Holmes) lives in New York with her boyfriend Bobby (Derek Luke), enjoying a modest life in a grungy neighborhood and—today—preparing for a Thanksgiving feast, to which she has invited her estranged family. Unfortunately, she's a bit clueless about how to cook a big turkey dinner, but her heart is certainly in the right place. Making their way toward the big city is her family—her dad Jim (Oliver Platt), her mom Joy (Patricia Clarkson), her sister Beth (Alison Pill), her brother Timmy (John Gallagher Jr.), and her grandma Dottie (Ghostbusters' Alice Drummond)—and they have a carload full of problems, not least of which is the fact that mom is dying of breast cancer. On top of everything else, April is not exactly the favorite child of the family—she left home under a cloud and left some sour memories, apparently—and everyone seems to dread seeing her again.

The structure of the film moves back and forth between these two stories. Frustratingly, the film also wastes time on a useless side plot involving Bobby, whom the plot demands be gone from the apartment while April gets into all sorts of domestic trouble and calls on her weird neighbors to help her. His scenes on the streets of New York lead you to believe that his urban scenarios are going to work their way into the main plot, but they never do and are distracting. I like Luke as an actor, but his character really gets the short end of the stick in Pieces of April.

There's a certain emotional momentum that builds as we go from the earnest and often comic misadventures of cooking a turkey to the bitter and weird road trip undertaken by the rest of the family. The hinted-at, seemingly longheld resentment between kin, coupled with an unspoken desire among two key characters to find forgiveness, makes for a finale that proves quite powerful, even though it's composed mainly of still shots.

Pieces of April isn't a flawless film, but its characters will stay with you, thanks almost entirely to a bevy of fine performances, particularly Holmes and Clarkson, who very strongly provide the film's emotional center. (And it helps that Holmes is terrifically yummy.) And there's a dark-edged humor that acts as counterpoint to any potential heartstring-pulling. In the end, it's a modest film—shot in 16 days on digital handheld cameras—of quiet charm and hard-fought reconciliation, and it will leave a smile on your face.

MGM presents Pieces of April in a flat but accurate anamorphic-widescreen transfer of the film's original 1.85:1 theatrical presentation. Shot on digital video, the film has that subtly fuzzy, smeary digital "look," and it often comes across as muddy and lacking in depth. Detail is adequate, but the transfer is plagued by digital artifacting in the form of moire patterns and mosquito noise. It's also got its fair share of edge halos. Colors are subdued. As I mentioned, the entire film was shot with handheld digital cameras, and the movement of the camera can introduce further troublesome digital noise.

No aural fireworks here, this Dolby Digital 5.1 track is pretty front-and-center, which is completely understandable, given the subject matter and the dialog-driven nature of the film. Speaking of dialog, it's faithfully reproduced.

Chief among the special features is an Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Peter Hedges. Hedges is a very soft-spoken fellow who is quite taken with his creation and full of thanks for the people who helped him make it. He talks many aspects of the production, including writing, editing, digital filming, costuming, acting, and scoring, among many others. It's an illuminating track, but there's lots of quiet in this commentary, even when he's talking.

Next up is All the Pieces Together, a 15-minute featurette about the making of the film. All the major players are represented, including writer/director Peter Hedges, who talks at length about the fact that the film is semi-autobiographical. Actors Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, John Gallagher Jr., Alison Pill, Oliver Platt, Sean Hayes, and Derek Luke also chime in about their thoughts on the film, their characters, and the director. On-set rehearsal moments enliven this piece in a fly-on-the-wall kind of way. This featurette essentially repeats the ending of the film, so be sure to watch the main feature first.

You also get the film's Theatrical Trailer, as well as trailers for other MGM films.

Pieces of April is a quietly effective Thanksgiving film, although not without its flaws. The DVD presentation is modest but provides good image and sound, along with entertaining and informative supplements.