Films That Get the Job Done

While Labor Day has become the unofficial end of summer, it originally was created to acknowledge the American labor movement. So we're showcasing films with stories that highlight the careers of their characters, from teachers to tailors.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

In Anthony Fabian’s Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, the title character (Lesley Manville) is a London charwoman who decides, after decades of hard work and caring for the fine things of others, she wants an original Dior gown for herself. “She appreciates the beauty of them, purely and simply,.” Manville told Cinemark. “And [she] also feels that she's a working woman [and] she's entitled to something as beautiful as that." After scrimping and saving to pay the hefty price tag, Mrs. Harris must battle with the French fashion elite, especially Madam Colbert (Isabelle Huppert), the haughty manager of the Paris design house. But in her journey for the gown, she gains a new sense of who she is. As The Guardian writes, “There’s something brilliantly simple about what Mrs. Harris wants and how she intends to get it.”

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The Outfit

In The Outfit, writer-director Graham Moore stitches together a taut thriller about a Saville Row tailor, Leonard (Mark Rylance), who discovers that his best customers are members of a criminal syndicate called The Outfit. While the film is filled with taut suspense, surprise betrayals, and potential murder, Moore and Rylance take the craft of tailoring seriously. Moore told Third Coast Review, “I spent time with cutters and tailors, time in the basement of a Savile Row shop talking to these people who had devoted decades to learning how to do this really precise thing.” For the role, Rylance even trained with a Saville Row tailor to learn how to cut. Rolling Stone writes, “The big pleasure in watching how The Outfit unfolds is simply observing Rylance at work, whether it’s meticulously constructing a suit or concocting a thug-shoot-thug set-up.”

Watch The Outfit on Apple TV or Amazon now!

The Way I See It

In The Way I See It, filmmaker Dawn Porter provides an intimate look at the Obama era through the lens of presidential photographer Pete Souza. During his eight years working with the former president, Souza shot up to 1,000 images a day, capturing every facet of the executive office, from children playing in the snow to high-level international summits. In Smithsonian Magazine, Barack Obama says, “I probably spent more time with Pete Souza than with anybody other than my family.” In humbly accomplishing his job as a photographer, Souza made history. “From the simple presentations of photos and memories, Porter weaves a moving meditation on the nature of leadership and dignity," RogerEbert.com writes. “Expect to be moved to tears during this reflective film.”

Watch The Way I See It now on Apple TV or Amazon now!

The High Note

In Nisha Ganatra’s The High Note, Dakota Johnson plays a harried personal assistant to a superstar singer (Tracee Ellis Ross). Screenwriter Flora Greeson, who spent years working as a personal assistant at a music company and talent agency, wrote from experience. “I was fascinated by those big stars who have very complicated personal lives, which are often run by their assistants,” Greeson said in an exclusive Focus Features interview. Along with its playful dialogue and powerhouse performances, the movie spotlights the fate of women working in the entertainment industry. Observer writes, “The High Note is both a comic lark and a profoundly transporting cinema experience that comes at a time when such a thing has hardly ever felt less possible and more necessary.”

Watch The High Note on Apple TV or Amazon now!

The Holdovers

In The Holdovers—directed by Alexander Payne and written by David Hemingson—Paul Giamatti plays Paul Hunham, a cranky Classics teacher at Barton Academy. Along with the school’s cook (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), Hunham is forced to babysit the holdovers, students who are stuck at school during the holiday break, including a young troublemaker (Dominic Sessa). Despite the academic zingers and acerbic barbs he hurls at his students, Hunham ultimately cares deeply about teaching. On receiving a Golden Globe for his performance, Giamatti gave a shout-out to educators everywhere. Variety writes, “Giamatti told the crowd in his speech, ‘Teachers are good people. We’ve got to respect them. They do a good thing. It’s a tough job. So this is for teachers.’”

Watch The Holdovers on Apple TV or Amazon!