Review of Labor Day (2013) by Ctb_Premium — 25 Jan 2015

At first it was the type of movie that I wanted to escape from. Wierd looking kid named Frank with a wierd relationship with his mother Adelle. You really need to watch and take note of the little flashbacks to understand this movie in the end.

It is impossible to understand the characters background in the first hour appx. There is alot of guessing leading up to the conversation the fugitive lover and Adelle have in the car while she is attempting to go to the bank.

Then your suspicion that the young couple with the baby girl is the fugitives deceased family and understand why he went to jail. He loved his daughter even though the movie suggests it is not his biological daughter.

She drowned in the bathtub. Not really a spoiler you would think that happened anyways. Then you learn that Adelle had a bunch of miscarriages and could not concieve again after Frank. Hence the reason for her depression.

Her last effort led to the death of her daughter after giving birth. So the two characters have an emotional commonground to begin. Both lost their baby children. Both feel terrible about it. Both have been cheated on and abandoned by their ex spouses.

Both are in a desperate situation and need each other for different reasons. That is why they fall in love so quickly. They need each others support and touch. Frank really is not a significant character in this story.

He is more like the narrorator or messenger. He is his moms rock until the fugitive shows up over labor day weekend and holds them all hostage. Then the boy feels abandoned by his mother. So the movie is about love, betrayel and loss.

The moral teaching is that if your current situation does not work out or you lose someone dear to you you should not give up as there is much more love out there waiting for you in places you would never expect if you lose the love you already have.

I liked it, once I see Jason Reitman is not a monster and just had bad luck you really feal badly for the guy. Of course without that information you as well as the towns people assume the guy is a terrible monster without a heart that wants to hurt everyone he meets or runs into.

This may be another moral teaching, do not judge a person by their circumstance or their hard outer shell. There is usually something much more than that once you peel back the layers.