Labor Day

2013’s “Labor Day”, directed by Jason Reitman.

Starring Josh Brolin, Kate Winslet, Gattlin Griffith, Tobey Maguire, Clark Gregg, J.K. Simmons, James Van Der Beek, and Maika Monroe.

What is it about?

Based off of Joyce Maynard’s 2009 novel, “Labor Day”, Reitman’s adaptation continues the story of Gattlin Griffith’s adolescent boy growing up in rural New Hampshire during the 80’s. Narrated by the adult version of him (played by Toby Maguire), we learn that his mother (Kate Winslet) has slipped into some kind of depression after her husband (Gregg Clark) leaves her for another woman. Mom and son live together, with their respective energies and boundaries overlapping, until one day at the department store they meet a mysterious and forceful Josh Brolin, bleeding and inviting himself into their vehicle for a ride. A ride turns into a bed and breakfast, and since Brolin is on the lam from the police, he spends Labour Day weekend alternating between hiding from other humans, and helping his new surrogate family/hostages change car tires and repair stone walls. Brolin’s presence has a galvanizing effect on the household, snapping Winslet out of her emotional funk, and providing a father presence for Griffith that his milquetoast and obtuse father could never provide. At the same time, we learn about Brolin’s background, and what he was imprisoned for. Can this hastily arranged trio make it work, or will Brolin end up back in the slammer?

Why is it worth seeing?

Reitman’s specialty has always been a quirky and sardonic approach to his plots and characters, particularly with his side characters and one offs. Buoyed by his successes with films like “Thank You for Smoking”, “Juno”, “Up in the Air”, and “Young Adult”, Reitman seems to have stretched out of his comfort zone with this romantic novel adaptation. The end result is a bit of a conflicted mess, as we get to alternate between shots of the household tied to chairs, and sensuously making peach pie together. At times it resembles something of Hitchcockian dread, hiding beneath the floors and between the walls, and at others Sam Mendes (weirdo domesticity) and Malick or Soderberg (wordless flashbacks jutting into present day). Here, Brolin and Winslett do everything in their considerable powers to make characters worth relating to- and you can’t help but wonder what the movie would look like if it had told the movie from Winslet’s perspective instead of Griffith’s (at it was in the novel). Without the medium of literature to get inside Griffith’s head, instead we get to watch from his eyes- and it can look a little incestuous at times before our conventional male lead shows up. Worst of all, Toby Maguire typically makes the hairs on the back of my neck crawl (While on the topic- is he the strangest former leading man in Hollywood history?). “LD” has it’s strengths, as you find yourself rooting for it’s characters, and it has some lovely moments- but how we get to it’s ending sure can be an odd work of labour.

Rating:

3/5

Trailer: Click Here.