Labor Day
Escaped convict Frank (Josh Brolin) is in desperate need of cover from the law until he can make an earnest run from the officials. As luck would have it, the planets aligned when Frank meets Adele (Kate Winslet) and Henry (Gattlin Griffith), a divorced and deeply depressed mother and her young son. Initial fear gives way to passion and the hunger for human contact as the three teach each other more about life in one long weekend than most get in a lifetime. But as the long arm of the law closes in, who’s heart will carry a torch, and what will Frank’s gift be to Henry?
Directed and co-written by Jason Reitman a sense of roundness, sensuality, and passion is artfully and delicately portrayed against what could be a bloody story with catastrophic proportions; instead the tale of helpless romantics is woven and played out by two incredibly capable foils, Winslet and Brolin, who’s screen chemistry is sizzling. Only one objection comes to mind, Reitman’s choice to drop in a sassy and precocious pre-teen, Eleanor (Brighid Fleming); in a part that seems more fitting for Juno, one has to question Reitman’s thinking, but lest one apple spoil the bunch, an emotional and heart throbbing story awaits none the less. Total date movie, Labor Day is rated PG-13.