Labor Day (2013) ☆ ☆ 1/2

Meryl Streep is the most honored performer in Academy Awards history, with a total of eighteen acting nominations — including a current one for August: Osage County, in which she once again proves her incredible range and talent.  Over the years as Streep’s astonishing nomination total has accumulated, I have wondered if anyone, ever, will approach it.  There is one actress who, I think, has a fairly decent chance, and that is Kate Winslet.

Like Streep, Kate Winslet is an actress of enormous power and range.  Although British by birth, Winslet can and has played Americans very convincingly, as she does in Labor Day.  With six nominations and counting, and still well shy of her fortieth birthday, Winslet has plenty of time to surpass classic actresses like Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn as she delivers sensitive, dynamic performances.  Unlike Streep, she isn’t timid about sexuality or nudity, which offers her even more opportunities.  I would not be at all surprised if someday Kate Winslet is afforded the same type of respect and adulation that Meryl Streep engenders, because she is so good and will have collected so many acting awards and nominations.

I bring this up only because Kate Winslet is so good in Labor Day, playing a troubled single mother who finds unexpected feelings for an escaped convict who asks her for help.  The convict is portrayed by Josh Brolin, who is equally good — although, to be honest, his character seems too good to be true some of the time.  Jason Reitman’s film puts these two unlikely people together so that they can slowly, gradually, begin the dance of love (which, evidently, is a rumba).

The tale is told by Winslet’s son, played by Gattlin Griffith (and narrated by Tobey Maguire, who takes over the character at the very end, years later).  Everything that happens is seen through his eyes, with the audience privy to understandings that he cannot quite fathom.  Much of the movie is sensitive and smart and even surprising, but eventually it corners itself as the police close in on the handsome fugitive.  As a character piece, anchored by two terrific lead performances, it works best.  It may be a bit too romantic for some viewers, although this aspect is really kept to a minimum because the boy doesn’t witness all of the lovey-dovey stuff.

It is less successful as a coming of age story; the boy doesn’t seem to have any real friends, despite living in the community for his whole life, and the new girl in town with whom he connects is like from some other movie.  He also does a couple of really stupid things, but then again, he is a kid.  And the suspense / thriller aspects that are present don’t work at all because it is obvious from the start that Brolin is such a good guy.  Ultimately this movie is a cross between a Nicholas Sparks novel and a very tame coming of age tale.  Brolin and Winslet bring their relationship to vivid life, but the rest of the film never feels true.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  13 February 2014.

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