Jason Reitman has alternated between directing scripts by Diablo Cody (Juno, Young Adult) and adapting modern novels into screenplays (Christopher Buckley’s Thank You For Smoking and Walter Kim’s Up In The Air). His new film Labor Day is an adaptation of the novel by Joyce Manard, the story of a depressed divorcee (Kate Winslet) and her 13-year-old son held hostage in their own home by Frank (Josh Brolin), a convicted murderer who has escaped from prison. Despite the danger, Frank teaches the boy how to throw a baseball, and begins to develop a courtship with the mother, saying they’ve “never been in safer hands.”
Labor Day opens in Chicago on January 31, but we’ve got 100 admit-two passes to a special screening on Tuesday, January 14 at the AMC River East, followed by a Q&A and book signing with author Joyce Maynard. All you have to do follow this link to Gofobo and enter the code AVCLUBQVZ4 to enter for tickets. Passes do not guarantee seats at the screening, so be sure to show up early. Read a synopsis and watch the trailer below.
Labor Day centers on 13-year-old Henry Wheeler, who struggles to be the man of his house and care for his reclusive mother Adele while confronting all the pangs of adolescence. On a back-to-school shopping trip, Henry and his mother encounter Frank Chambers, a man both intimidating and clearly in need of help, who convinces them to take him into their home and later is revealed to be an escaped convict. The events of this long Labor Day weekend will shape them for the rest of their lives.