Pieces of April (2003)

What a delightful and unexpected treat.  Katie Holmes may be in the headlines as the next Mrs. Cruise (Lord help her) but she shines here as the punk daughter trying to make a Thanksgiving dinner for her slightly dysfunctional family, including her dying mother -- a sensational Patricia Clarkson.  Chief among her problems is that her oven has conked out and she finds herself begging her assorted and somewhat weird neighbours in her apartment block to borrow theirs. The word "quirky" just about covers this movie, but it is also very funny at times and by the end extremely moving.