Labor Day 2013

     This film is based on a novel by Joyce Maynard.  The year is 1987 on Labor Day weekend, Adele is a divorced single mom and she has a 13 year-old son, Henry.  They live in a house needing repair work and paint in a small New Hampshire town.  Adele is depressed and she can’t go into the bank but she can drive Henry there to go inside for her.  She pushes herself to take Henry to buy new clothes for going back to school.  They meet a man there and he manages to get them to offer him a ride because he’s injured and asks for their help.  Police are searching the town for him because he’s an escaped convict.  Frank begins to tell his story to Adele and Henry.  He also changes the oil in her car, cleans the gutters, mops and waxes the floor.  He teaches them how to make a peach pie from fruit brought over by a neighbor.

     What happened to Adele and her marriage is told in flashbacks.  There is a lot of tension when there are scenes where Frank could get caught and sent back to prison.  This film has low marks for sentiment but wasn’t 1987 a different time than 2013, especially small town America?  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

111 min, Drama directed by Jason Reitman with Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin, Gattlin Griffith, Tobey Maguire, Tom Lipinski, Maika Monroe, Clark Gregg, James Van Der Beek, J.K. Simmons, Brooke Smith.

Note:  Imdb 6.9 out of 10, 33% critic 55% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 1 ½*.

Special Note:  The author Joyce Maynard, came to the set of Labor Day in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts to teach Winslet and Brolin how to make the peach pie.  They made three pies and ate them right away.  Josh told her later that he made a pie almost every day of that summer.  When Joyce’s mother was dying, Joyce also made a pie nearly every day during those months.  Friends came by to see her mother and she fed them pie.  Later she started teaching others to make pies using her mother’s method.  Joyce said she cries every time she watches them make the pie in this movie.