Movie Review: “Sunshine Cleaning”
Rating: 73
Just as the title implies, “Sunshine Cleaning” is about disinfecting a mess, whether it’s a crime scene or a life filled with mistakes. Someone has to do the dirty job that Rose and Norah Lorkowski take on, and redemption could be found in all those gallons of industrial disinfectant.
Rose (Amy Adams) was captain of the cheerleading team in high school, but that was her high point. About 15 years later, she is cleaning houses for a living and continuing a long-standing and fruitless affair with her high school boyfriend Mac (Steve Zahn). Every day, Rose repeats affirmations in a search for elusive self-esteem, but cannot break free of being the cutest, sweetest doormat in Albuquerque.
Like Rose but without the obvious charm, Norah (Emily Blunt) is just a stoned mess who cannot hold down even the worst fast-food job. The Lorkowski sisters and their father Joe (Alan Arkin) all got damaged individually by a family tragedy, leaving each with a life on the margins and the possibility that Rose’s smart-but-troubled son Oscar (Jason Spevack) is on the same path.
But then after one of their depressing motel trysts, Mac, a homicide detective, suggests that Rose could make a lot of money cleaning up after his cases. She wheedles her way into a crime scene with the recently fired Norah in tow, and they start mopping up blood. Of course they’re not certified for this line of work, but the forms and tests can wait.
If the plot of Christine Jeffs’ film seems stitched together from several independent movie tropes, the characters and actors help “Sunshine Cleaning” transcend those ideas. Adams and Blunt are convincing as siblings who ultimately find some meaning in their lives through mopping up viscera — after all, there were once real people in these blood-stained rooms. While Rose and Norah’s makeshift operation is far from perfect, dealing in mortality could supply some kind of breakthrough for both sisters.
Like “Wendy and Lucy,” also opening in Oklahoma City this week, “Sunshine Cleaning” depicts people barely operating at subsistence level. It’s not where anyone wants to be, but so many people end up there, either by accident or the ugly nature of the economy. These characters resonate as people grapple with their own tough times, whether it’s due to recession or their own difficulties in breaking out of spirals.
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I just saw a trailer for this movie TODAY! I don’t know how i’ve never seen it before. It looks like a great movie and will be my next one to watch. Thank you for your review.