Synopsis
A lost family of two seeks refuge and comfort within the presence of an escaped convict to try and rebuild their lives within one Labor Day weekend.
The setup for this film is spot on where it should be. You have a mother that can’t seem to get her life back on track after a tough divorce. You have a son who is looking for a father figure, but coming up empty when it comes to his actual father. And you have an escaped convict trying to find that family he couldn’t hold onto, but desperately wanted. Three pieces that fit perfectly together in one story, right?
Well, if you had a year to let this story unfold and all three constantly moving from town-to-town to escape the law, then yes, maybe. But you only get a Labor Day weekend to make this believable and that’s a really tough sell, despite the efforts of director Jason Reitman and his strong cast.
The film starts with Kate Winslett’s Adele. At the beginning of the movie the groundwork for the characters is laid out quickly with the shortest amount of cuts. We find out who Adele is and what she is going through. The first scene has her and her son Henry (Gattlin Griffith) preparing for a trip to the grocery. Adele gets in the vehicle and haphazardly puts the car in neutral instead of reverse. She doesn’t recognize she has done this, even though she is pushing on the accelerator and the car isn’t moving. Within a matter of seconds Henry helps her to put the car in reverse. That one scene alone tells us all we need to know about these characters. Adele is lost within her own mind. Henry is doing his best to make sure that Adele doesn’t hurt herself (or him). It’s incredibly powerful and sets the stage perfectly for who these individuals are going to be throughout the story, and also helps to establish the upward arc of how their lives are about to change.
Soon after arriving at the grocery, Henry is approached by Frank (Josh Brolin), who politely forces the mother and son out of the grocery and back towards their house. Soon after that scene, we fully understand through explanation that Frank is an escaped convict who needs a place to stay until he finds a way out of his situation — or another opportunity for him to getaway. Until then, Adele and Henry are held against their will, which is apparently okay. Sure we get a lot of ‘don’t you touch my family’ threats from Adele, but for the most part she is silently intrigued by the presence of Frank. Oddly enough, Henry is actually the only one in the bunch who is open to the possibility of turning Frank in because he has to protect the small family he loves and knows. Lots of good tension builds at the beginning of the film, but then things fizzle.
Fast forward to the next day, everything is apparently peachy. That’s the crust of this pie. That’s the problem and where ultimately the movie fails. There is no storyline that this reviewer can think of that can properly put together a dangerous convict with a suffering family and have everything be ‘normal’ in the span of 24 hours. Trust has to be developed properly and there is no way that this amount of time can offer that type of development to happen. Day one has an escaped convict basically kidnapping a family. Day two has a convict start filling a husband/father role without anyone questioning his intentions or even questioning what he did to get put in prison. This is a very tough sell. This is what Jason Reitman is trying to sell his audience and I can fully understand why they aren’t buying it. It’s too quick, it doesn’t piece together properly and the reactions coming from the actors really go against every possible logical conclusion the storyline is asking for by the end.
In short, it’s just not believable.
With that said, the peach filling inside the crumbling crust might make you forget the pie was improperly put together. Brolin knocks it out of the ballpark and you want to like his character, but as a viewer you’re cautious, just like Henry and Adele. Winslett does a great job as a mother going through the devastation of divorce and the disconnect and depression Adele is suffering from on a day-to-day basis. Gattlin Griffith gives a strong and courageous performance as Henry the the voice of reason in the dysfunctional group. Their performances keep this movie together when it’s begging to fall apart. They’re the reason you want to watch this rather dark, dreary and unbelievable story unfold. Of course, all Reitman films up to this point have always featured strong and defined characters inside of them. It’s no surprise that Labor Day isn’t any different.
Overall, if you’re up for some strong performances inside of a tough, dysfunctional, sad story then you may want to give Labor Day a go.
As for the Blu-ray portion of this film, it’s visually going to break you out in a sweat. Based during the summer, the film is shot in a yellow, dreary tint — honestly speaking that matches the tone of the story and its characters. The tint also brings out the visual details in what is a very clean and crisp picture. It will also make you wonder why these folks don’t have air conditioning systems. I mean, it’s 1987. Even older houses have window units. I digress, you will find a Blu-ray that has really great visual quality and nothing to muck it up (no compression issues or color banding problems). Just bring a towel if you watch the movie in HD. You will sweat a little.
Finally, as for the features on this Blu-ray, here’s what you should expect:
– Commentary
– Making of Labor Day
– Deleted Scenes
Not a lot here, but enough to make the Blu-ray feel complete. The making of featurette gives you some much needed insight about the film and what the intentions behind it were. The deleted scenes are decent. The commentary is probably the best part of this Blu-ray release. Good stuff, but not overly great. Of course, the film really doesn’t need more to make it work. Maybe a gag reel? Kidding, kidding…no gag reel for this type of content.