Jason Reitman‘s “Labor Day” just got out of press screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival and so perfectly timed, the debut clip from the film has arrived. Starring Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin and 14-year-old Gattlin Griffith (Clint Eastwood‘s “Changeling”), “Labor Day” is based on Joyce Maynard’s book of the same name and centers on an escaped convict (Brolin), who takes refuge of the home of a depressed, single mother (Winslet) while the cops are out on a manhunt in the nearby town.
The story goes that the mother and son meet the man when they find him wounded and afraid, only later to discover he’s a jailbird. So this clip appears to be soon after he’s revealed his true nature. And while not overly intense, it’s a pretty good scene. Will “Labor Day” be able to overcome its mixed reviews at the Telluride Film Festival? A new project by director Jason Reitman shooting in November (starring Adam Sandler no less) seems to suggest he knows the film doesn’t have massive Oscar chances, but anything can happen when the finnicky Oscar tides change. Our man in Telluride, didn’t care for it so much and called it “a full-immersion exercise in the old-fashioned women’s weepie that skews far closer to Nicholas Sparks’ brand of contrivance than Diablo Cody territory.”
Still, his Alexander Payne preoccupations aside, we’re always curious about Jason Reitman films so the rest of us will be judging with our own eyes when we finally get to see it later this year. “Labor Day” is scheduled to hit theaters in limited release on December 25th. Clip below.
