Brooke Smith

Set in 1987 over the late summer holiday weekend, Labor Day opens with divorced, depressed single mom Adele clothes shopping with her 13-year-old son, Henry. They encounter a large, fearsome man who is bleeding badly, and against all judgment, they give him a ride to their home. The injured man is in fact an escaped convict from the local prison, and as the police search narrows, the mother and son gradually learn his true story and their options become more and more limited.

Brian, painter Ellen and chef Sam timeshare an apartment on different days. A shift on Mon/Wednesdays causes mistaken identity as Ellen and Sam have never met but leave notes, food etc. behind for each other. Sam has a problem with his roommates: they are disgusting, and don't seem to share his views on responsibility, privacy, and basic hygiene. Such is his discomfort with his living arrangements that he agrees to share the occupancy of another flat: he gets two nights a week, the owner (a sleazy frat-boy yuppie named Brian, soon to be married) and Ellen (a would-be painter seeking relief from her boring marriage) each get their separate nights in the flat. Things go extremely well until Sam and Brian swap nights without telling Ellen, who attributes the "nice" things that happen around the place to the slob Brian, while berating the responsible Sam for his hedonistic lifestyle. —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>