Labor Day / Last Days of Summer: review

Casting:

Director: Jason Reitman

Kate Winslet: Adele Wheeler

Josh Brolin: Frank Chambers

Tom Lipinski: Frank Chambers (young)

Gattlin Griffith: Henry Wheeler (young)

Tobey Maguire: Henry Wheeler (old)

Brooke Smith: Evelyn

Clark Gregg: Gerald (Henry's father)

Synopsis:

                 In 1987, Adele Wheeler is a depressed single mom who lives in a rural home with her 13-year-old son, Henry. While they are clothes shopping, a bloody man approaches Henry and makes them take him home to look after him. The man is revealed to be Frank Chambers, a convict who is wanted by the local police after breaking out of jail...

(Source: Wikipedia)

My opinion:

              I really loved that movie. It's very intimist. I really appreciated the way of filming. The director filmed essentially inside the house (or the garden), very few scenes are filmed outside (except for the flashbacks) so we're really into it. The characters' temper could have been a little bit more developed but still we are totally able to understand them. For instance, I would have liked Henry had a stronger personality, you know, a little bit more conflicted mind so that he could protect his mom more when Franck got into their life. At a moment in the movie Henry had a choice to make. Whether he let Franck live with his family or he turned him to the police. And for him it was such an evidence. He wanted Frank. He wanted him to stay because he needed a paternal figure and because he loved him. But it would have been more interesting if he was in some kind of conflict, if we had the possibility to watch him weighing the pros and the cons.

            Kate Winslet is still fabulous in that sort of movie. She always arrives to pass on the emotions at the perfection. She gives us shivers.

              But there's another point where I'm totally ashamed of myself. I've watched No Country For Old Men so I know who is Llewelyn Moss but the fact is I didn''t even recognize Josh Brolin in that movie. I didn't know what I was thinking! Anyway, if I had to compare the both  "performances" I prefer Josh in Labor Day.

                 As for the title, "Labor Day", the explanation is quite simple. Franck is supposed to leave on the Friday. But he won't because there is no train and the reason is because it's Labor Day. So if Franck and Adele are gonna "live together" few more days it's only because it's a public holiday. 

          The French title (and I think in other countries as well), "Last Days of Summer", is smart but less explicit than the original one. Less explicit in the way that we have to know Labor Day in the United States is at the beginning of September so at the end of summer. But I have a theory about why they chose that title. It's purely hypothetical. Summer is related to the sun. And for me Franck is like the sun Adele was waiting for and that for a very long time. He enters into her life and illuminates everything around her. And actually the lovers are kind of talking about this in the movie when they're about to leave for Canada. Adele explains she's "a prisoner of her own life" and the ex-convict responds "I'm here to save you". That's what it's all about. 

In general, I'd say it's a really great movie you have to watch ! It's a good 8/10.