Romantic fiction sometimes requires a great suspension of disbelief — a leap this hardened cynic was more than willing to take for a small gem like “Labor Day.’’
Much credit is due to an exquisite performance by Kate Winslet as a severely depressed divorcee who, over the course of a holiday weekend in 1987, agrees to a new life with an escaped murderer she’s just met.
It certainly helps that the man in this achingly romantic cross between a thriller and a coming-of-age story — told from the point of view of her 13-year-old son (Gattlin Griffith) — is played by a never-more-charming Josh Brolin.
Or that writer-director Jason Reitman finds just the right tone for this adaptation of a novel by Joyce Maynard, decades ago dubbed the voice of her (and my) generation by the New York Times, and still best known for her teenage romance with J.D. Salinger.
Winslet is terrific as the emotionally fragile Adele, who has virtually exiled herself from the world in the genteelly run-down house she shares with her protective son, Henry.
The action is set in a small New Hampshire town, years after a series of blameless tragedies ended her marriage to Henry’s somewhat befuddled but concerned father (Clark Gregg), who’s remarried with a new family.
Into their unhappy lives comes Frank (Brolin) — the murderer whose back story slowly unfolds in flashbacks — who at first forces them to harbor him to elude a police manhunt.
But soon, mother and son are won over by this seemingly gentle man — occasionally menacing, when he needs to be — who cooks, mops floors, fixes things, teaches Henry the finer points of softball and even expertly helps baby-sit the developmentally challenged son of Adele’s friend (Brooke Smith).
The nurturing Frank also tends to Adele’s needs in ways that her son can’t — quickly progressing from sitting on the porch together to dancing to a discreet night together.
Over the course of the four-day Labor Day weekend, Frank, Adele and Henry begin making plans as a newly formed family to begin a new life in Canada — even as Henry meets a girl his own age (Brighid Fleming) who is also suffering from her parents’ divorce.
But will the three of them be able to escape to this fantasy before the folks in town — including nice cameos by J.K. Simmons and James Van Der Beek — get too suspicious of the newly excited Adele’s behavior?
It’s a testament to Winslet’s skill at playing depressed and lonely women that I believed she would bloom so quickly from Brolin’s attention. And that she would gladly risk her and her son’s safety — and frankly, even more incredibly, the son would happily permit her to do this.
Winslet and Brolin have wonderful chemistry together, and Reitman makes well-worn metaphors like steamy weather and pie making (the film has been embraced by the American Pie Council) seem newly invented.
Flashbacks to Frank’s earlier life (where he’s played by Tom Lipinski, with Maika Monroe as his doomed wife) that might seem pretentious and/or corny in less sure hands come off well. Slightly less effective is the film’s prolonged coda, in which Tobey Maguire (who narrates the film) plays Henry as an adult.
“Labor Day,’’ which wears its heart on its sleeve, is very different in tone from Reitman’s earlier films like “Juno,’’ “Up in the Air’’ and “Young Adult,’’ all of which cut their sentiment with snark — not dissimilar to Gus Van Sant’s superb adaptation of Maynard’s “To Die For.’’
The film that “Labor Day” reminds me most of is Clint Eastwood’s underrated masterpiece “A Perfect World,” which also acutely presented its place and time through details, pacing and evocative cinematography. There are also romantic echoes of Eastwood’s “The Bridges of Madison County’’ — not a bad combination at all if you’re in the right mood.