Kate’s fast-approaching Labour Day

Labour Day

Director: Jason Reitman Writers: Jason Reitman, Joyce Maynard (novel) Starring: Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin Runtime: 111 minutes Certification: 12A Rating: 4/5

Depressed and damaged — these are two qualities Kate Winslet can absolutely nail role-after-role. (Probably the only actress who can top Winslet in this respect is Nicole Kidman) And a part of what makes Labour Day so intriguing is what the actors make of their highly unusual but fascinating characters. As a divorced single mother to a son, Adele (Winslet) has become detached from the world. She doesn’t like to leave the house unless absolutely necessary and she depends more and more on the young Henry (the excellent young actor Gattlin Griffith) around the house. This all changes when random encounter with a convicted murderer on the run in a supermarket. As a post-appendicectomy patient, Frank (Josh Brolin) jumped out of his hospital window, escaping with some injuries and now has found the perfect place to crash and lay low for a few days. Adele and Henry reluctantly take him in, and at first this is fuelled by Frank’s rather non-subtle threats against Henry, as he gently places his hand around the back of the young boy’s neck. But this is where things get interesting: Adele, longing for a male companion to fill the emptiness in her life, starts to see Frank in a very positive light. Henry, who’s been missing a father figure for some years now (his biological father (Clark Gregg) does take him out for dinner once per week with his new family but there’s not much bonding here), begins to form a special relationship with Frank. And really, who can blame them? Far from the initial appearance of a scruffy-looking prisoner on the loose, it would appear Frank is quite the domestic god, fixing every little thing around the house, he even cooks, bakes (a sumptuous-looking peach pie), and irons too (shirtless, of course, how else?). It’s a nice day outside? Let’s go play some baseball with the kid. And sure why not fire up the barbecue and spend an idyllic summer day with the kind strangers? Despite the various local news warning screens flashing from Adele’s television, Frank insists there are two sides to every story, and as the intermittent flashback sequences (in which the younger version of Frank is played by the Josh Brolin doppelganger Tom Lipinski) begin to reveal, we begin to realise that Frank has a point. And with Brolin’s balanced performance of a tough exterior and his exuding kind-hearted nature, Frank becomes a far more intriguing character over the course of the film. It’s a scenario that perhaps requires a stretch of the imagination — any sensible person with a child would most likely have caused a scene in the supermarket. But given Adele’s past, and Winslet’s spot-on portrayal, you begin to see the attraction and all the fuss with this weird but oddly touching relationship. Seen through the eyes of the young boy, the audience also gets to see life outside the house as Henry starts hanging out with a newly-local girl who is far more mature than you would expect for someone her age. There is sweet, light-hearted humour as we see the coming-of-age story of Henry in the most unusual circumstances, and it’s the many character interactions that give the film plenty of life. The sunny, picture-perfect life they lead only lasts the short and bittersweet Labour Day Weekend, a warm, fantasy affair that is cut short thanks to an overly friendly neighbour who barges in (Brooke Shields), and an overly caring cop (James Van Der Beek) who, in all fairness, is only trying to help. It becomes unbearably tense, as the stakes become higher than ever, and this family unit is one worth rooting for. The closing scenes feel a touch contrived, and even in Tobey Maguire’s surprise last-minute appearance there is very little justification for an ending that makes you cringe. It’s heart-warming to a certain point, but as the film starts to milk the finale more and more, the last few minutes come at a price of having to overlook some questionable narrative leaps.