Monday, February 17, 2014

Labor Day (2014): Review


I have been looking forward to seeing the movie Labor Day since I saw the first trailer for it because it has been a while since I have seen a romance movie that is just that a drama romance about the characters and their relationship to each other and little else.  Plus this movie stars Kate Winslet and she is one of those actresses that is just fantastic and can get me to easily be on her side and fascinated to watch the journey she goes through. This movie kind meanders through the story like a Sunday afternoon and I mean that as a good thing.  It is an enjoyable movie that sucked me in, it is a movie where not a whole lot happens and it takes its time going through the story but it didn't feel slow.
Labor Day is a movie adaptation of the 2009 Joyce Maynard book of the same name and although I consider this movie to really be about Kate Winslet's character Adele it is shown through the perspective of her son Henry, played by Gattlin Griffith, who narrates the movie as if he is recalling the events of the main story which occurred over labor day weekend before he starts seventh grade. The movie spends most of its time with the main story line which occurs in the nineteen eighties but flashes back to the earlier back story of Frank, played by Josh Brolin, but ends with showing you the story ends in the time after this faithful weekend.  This main story is about how Adele suffers from mental health issues making it difficult for her to interact with the world around her and leave her house. While she is out for her monthly shopping trip with her son Henry, they encounter Frank, an escaped convict from the local prison.  He gets Adele and Henry to take him back to their house where he develops a relationship with them over the course of the Labor Day weekend.  During this time Adele, Frank, and Henry have to come to terms with their own demons and deal with the obstacles and danger that Frank brings with him.


I really enjoyed this movie and liked how it was just focused on the relationships between the characters and focused on the small scope of their lives and interactions.  It was refreshing to have it focused on the acting and story and had a script that the actors were able to work with.  It goes at a sedate pace but this fit the overall feel of the movie and how it set in the hot days of late summer.  It is a movie that I would recommend for people who like dramas and romances that are not over the top or flashing.  It reminds me of the good movies that I grew up watching that were about the people and situations they are in, not relying on fancy sets or special effects to keep the audience interested.



My Rating: 3

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