Let us forgive our American cousins for mis-spelling the title of the film I watched on Thursday morning. "Labor (sic) Day" was directed by Jason Reitman and based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard. As you can see from the adjacent poster, the stars of this film were Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin with an important supporting role played by fifteen year old Gattlin Griffith.
I am pleased that I didn't bother to read any reviews beforehand because they might have prejudiced my enjoyment of the film. As the title suggests, it is based around events that occurred one Labor Day weekend - in a New England community. Adele Wheeler (Kate Winslet) is a depressive divorcee who lives alone in a tumbledown house with her sensitive and supportive son Henry. Money is tight and supermarket visits are frugal excursions. It is on their pre-Labor Day visit that Frank Chambers (Josh Brolin) appears from behind the superhero comics to confront Adele's son. Prison convict Frank is on the run having escaped from custody at the local hospital where he had had his appendix removed.
He needs somewhere to lie low for a day or two and Adele's house is the random hideaway he has chosen. But Frank is not a brutal kidnapper. He fixes things around the house, plays baseball with Henry and memorably shows his hosts how to make a wholesome peach pie with a bucket full of ripe peaches brought round by a neighbour. Adele is awakened from her trough of depression and falls in love with Frank.
They plan to flee to Canada with Henry but events conspire against them and before they can leave the cops have arrived and Frank is taken back into custody. He was imprisoned for the alleged murder of his wife but flashbacks throughout "Labor Day" suggest that he was not guilty.
My attention was held throughout the film. The atmosphere of it was languid - in small town America at the end of a hot summer. Winslet is a very accomplished actress with a wide range of roles behind her and her portrayal of a lost and disenchanted housewife clinging to the lifebelt of love offered by by her uninvited guest was both sensitive and convincing. And I don't care what dismissive reviewers might have had to say about "Labor Day" for I thought this romantic thriller was, as folk from Barnsley might say, "reeght good" or as folk from Surrey might say, "a spiffing film"!
Good review YP
ReplyDeleteI HEAR ONLY GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS MOVIE
Kate Winslet is a brilliant actress in my view and Josh Brolin interacted very effectively with her.
DeleteThis is the first time I hear about this film (hardly surprising, since I am not much of a film person). It sounds as if the actors and everybody else involved in making it have managed to make the viewer care about the characters. Of course, now that I know how things will go for Adele and Frank, I won't go and watch it myself, or look for the novel.
ReplyDeleteSorry Arian - I guess I have spoilt it for you. Maybe my post should have just been - "I advise you to watch Labor Day".
DeleteOh, I doubt I would have watched it anyway - as I said, I am not that much of a film person, but of course I do appreciate a good film when it happens to come my way.
DeleteWhen you wrote at the end of your post that folk from Barnsley might say "reeght good", that reminded me so much of my husband! He was born and grew up in Wath-on-Dearne, and said things like "queez neet" for quiz night :-D
If your husband had said "queasy neet" he'd have had a stomach upset - but obviously not related to your cooking Arian! That's also "reeght good" I'm sure. Bockwurst and sauerkraut?
DeleteNever have made Sauerkraut at home, YP. I leave the traditional German dishes to my Mum, who is much better at them than I ever could be. Besides, it usually was Steve who did the cooking, since his work allowed him much more time at home than mine. He made a reeght good curry, and Yorkshire Puddings (he taught me to make them, too) on Sundays to go with veg and meat, and one of my favourites, bangers and mash.
DeleteI'd like to see this movie, too. And, we down this way spell "labour" correctly, too! ;)
ReplyDeleteI hope you have your little Union Jack ready to wave when Wills and Kate drive by Lee.
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