“SUNSHINE CLEANING” (Amy Adams, Emily Blunt & Alan Arkin)
This is a marvelous little film about slightly broken people – the fact that they’re not completely broken makes them worthy of caring about. I could relate to the 2 main characters despite their being female. One reason is timing – they both were struggling to find their place in the world from an occupation standpoint & the other reason I won’t reveal here, other than to say they both were haunted by a tragic moment from their past.
Amy & Emily play sisters, Rose & Norah. Rose works as a maid for a housekeeping service & Norah’s temper keeps her from holding a job for any length of time.
Alan Arkin plays their father, who bounces from one money-making scheme to the next. The one drawback I had with the script is the fact that how the tragedy from the past affected ‘Dad’ is never mentioned.
Steve Zahn, proving he can do more than just provide some mild comic relief, plays a smarmy cop who is cheating on his wife with Rose. It is Zahn’s character that suggests to Rose she get into the ‘cleaning up crime scenes’ business. It’s messy, but lucrative...
So Rose & Norah start ‘Sunshine Cleaning’ which leads them from one disgusting crime scene aftermath after another. Along the way they encounter Winston (Clifton Collins, Jr.) who guides them along on the proper way to proceed with their new business. Collins is splendid in the role as his character is required to relate his thoughts through his facial expressions. Without saying a word, we know that Winston thinks Rose is hot & her son is a brat. Besides an obvious shyness, Winston's setback is that he only has one arm & you know that's why he thinks he doesn't stand a chance with Rose.
Rose’s son, Oscar (Jason Spevak) is also slightly ‘off’ center – he’s been expelled from school, so mom starts Sunshine Cleaning in order to earn enough to send him to a private school. There is a very funny scene in which Aunt Norah tells the boy he should proudly wear the badge of ‘bastard’.
Mary Lynn Rajskub, despite playing her normal frowning frumpy dour character, fits into this story perfectly. Norah befriends her after finding her photo among the belongings of a woman that had recently committed suicide.
So often I come out of the theatre telling my wife how I would have altered the film to improve the story – Not so with ‘Sunshine Cleaning’ – Everything is included in the box, including the batteries. In the end, I was alright with the fact that Dad’s background wasn’t explored more – the film centered on the 2 sisters & that’s how it should have been.
I appreciated how the story unfolded as well, Rose makes a very unwise choice to leave her son with Winston, a man she definitely doesn’t know well enough - & yet, it is the seemingly innocent decision to send Norah on a job without her that causes grief.
When Rose shuns her responsibilities to attend an ex-high school friend’s baby shower, she takes the opportunity to brag about her recent accomplishments & then makes an early exit with a beaming smile on her face. Then, like the rest of her life, the joy is short-lived. Maybe it’s due to the fact that the story often reminded me of one that I wrote & that’s why I enjoyed it as much as I did. The acting didn’t hurt either – Amy Adams is fast becoming my favorite actress – to go from ‘Enchanted’ to ‘Doubt’ to this, she is showing the ability to tackle any role & make it believable.
It may take a long time before I stop saying ‘My favorite movie of 2009 is Sunshine Cleaning’. Go see it & I believe you will be very pleasantly surprised that a film about cleaning up after bloody suicide victims could be so entertaining...
8 comments:
I really liked this movie. The acting came across as very genuine. Extremely well written screenplay. This will probably be another good year for Amy Adams, as she is supposed to be very good as Julie in Julie and Julia.
It's sad they couldn't have released this later in the year, as I think it's a strong film with strong performances, but this will probably get buried once the end of the year comes around.
So if Amy gets a Oscar nod for Julie and Julia, I will personally view it for her Sunshine Cleaning performance. Clifton Collins Jr. was good too and I hope he isn't forgotten. He has been a solid actor in most things he has been in. He was dynamic in 187 opposite Samuel L. Jackson. Great as Perry in Capote and as then as the poor guy in Traffic. He's due for some accolades. And this was probably Emily Blunt's best ever performance. Just great all the way around.
But you know it will be not seen by a lot of people and probably be on DVD in June. The indie curse. Some indie's should strive for a wide release. Word of mouth is a strong thing.
I cringed when I heard a promo for 'Sunshine Cleaning' referring to it as 'this season's Juno'.
It is ten thousand times better than that over-rated claptrap. I came out of it hoping it would be regarded as this year's "The Visitor" in that Amy & Clifton's performances would not be forgotten come Oscar nomination time...
It's sad that this is going to be so little seen. It's a good film. I went and saw it based on your review. I had no idea about it, and I'm glad and thank you for the tip. It makes me wonder. I think one of the first signs of the apocolypse is that this came in 10th place and Fast And Furious made 72 million and is the highest grossing film of all time in April. Something is seriously wrong here. That couldn't have been seen by all teenagers. So that means there were people in their 30's and 40's that saw it and that's scary unto itself !
Also, I always have remembered Clifton Collins by face in movies from the past but not by name and have always been impressed with his way of really getting inside of a character. I purposely stayed through the credits to know his name. As for Amy Adams, if she is forgotten for this movie, I think she'll get some good looks for Julie and Julia.
Good movie but unfortuantely will probably be forgotten by the end of the year, because of it's early release date. ***1/2 stars.
I wonder if I wrote a fake review of 'Faster & Furiouser' saying how much it stunk & only morons would like something so inane & void of any intelligent thought - would I get more people responding to my reviews? Yes, it's sad that only you & dbm have seen this very touching, well made, well acted film. But I'm not giving up hope - How many people saw The Visitor?
Occasionally, Oscar voters get it right & maybe Amy or Clifton WILL be remembered at the end of the year.
Good review Terry. Concise and honest. My wife's favorite movie of the year so far and mine as well. As for Joe ( Arkin ) his wife commited suicide and he found it difficult to raise his two daughters.
Well, thanks for throwing out a 'spoiler', Kurt! (Just kidding, I consider the comments section to be fair game since its generally for people who have seen the film)
But you misunderstood the comment in my review about Joe (AA)- I meant that how his wife's death affected HIM isn't brought up. I think a scene with dad talking about the suicide with his daughters may have made it an even better film. But then again, its perfect just the way it is...
It's not around anymore where I live and I wanted to see it. From your review it looks like I should rent it.
I was hoping word of mouth would keep it around longer & to a wider audience, which it did somewhat, but yes, do rent it. I'm biased because I could relate to the characters so well, but apparently it has a universal feel to it as everyone that has seen it seems to have enjoyed it.
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