Sunshine Cleaning

Posted on June 22, 2009 at 9:02 am by lkeddie | Permalink

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Released 26th June 2009

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Single mom Rose Lorkowski’s mantra in the film is: “You are strong. You are powerful. You can do anything”. This should be adopted by the eternally brilliant and charming Amy Adams, who plays the downtrodden, but determined working-class mum, because Hollywood is bowing down and kissing the very ground this talented actress walks on. And quite rightfully so, after Christine Jeffs‘ delightfully funny and touching comedy drama, where Adams excels once more beside Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) and Alan Arkin in a wonderful survival story against the odds. If you loved Little Miss Sunshine, this is an absolute MUST for you.

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Adams plays the chirpy and upbeat character with a great sorrow/burden weighing down on her shoulders once more as Rose, a role type that she has made her trademark, and one that we just lap up every time. There are similarities to her sensitive and optimistic character of Ashley Johnsten in Junebug, here, only this time she is the main inspiration that is needed to kick-start the flagging family relationship. It is Adams’ great force of personality, strength and lively spirit that always makes her a welcome presence on screen.

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Coupled with Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt, playing the childish slacker of the family stuck in moody teenage mode (both mentally and in dress sense), Adams and the British actress make a dynamic screen team, coping with what life - and the crime scenes they encounter - throws at them. Blunt is equally fantastic as Rose’s unreliable, work-shy sister Norah who, in a separate sub-plot, has personal issues and demons to face. Screenwriter Megan Holley has created a magical balance of personalities between the sisters, but has not made them so dissimilar that their sibling credibility is lost.

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Mention Oscar winner Alan Arkin as the ‘father figure’, and this story has all the workings of a hit indie chick flick. Except ‘chick flick’ is a rather brash and unfair label to apply because, male or female, there is something to be taken away from it. It is primarily a survival story, heavy on ‘family commitment’ that happens to have two exciting and refreshing female leads at its helm. The plight of an ordinary family struggling to make ends meet and bearing the scars of a internal tragedy is an engaging plot for anyone riding out these testing financial times.

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There is much to ‘gush’ over this superb, summer-breakthrough indie flick. With its quirky and charming plot and intriguing juxtaposition of the bizarre circumstances its characters find themselves in, plus its natural, understated pace borrowed from Little Miss Sunshine, it is just too irresistible to miss.

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By Lisa Keddie

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Synopsis

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Once the high school cheerleading captain who dated the quarterback, Rose Lorkowski (Adams) now finds herself a thirty-something single mother working as a maid. Her sister, Norah (Blunt), is still living at home with their dad Joe (Arkin), a salesman with a lifelong history of ill-fated get rich quick schemes. Desperate to get her son into a better school, Rose persuades Norah to go into the crime scene clean-up business with her to make some quick cash. In no time, the girls are up to their elbows in murders, suicides and other… specialised situations. As they climb the ranks in a very dirty job, the sisters find new respect for one another and the closeness they have always craved finally blossoms. By building their own improbable business, Rose and Norah open the door to the joys and challenges of being there for one another-no matter what-while discovering personal healing in the most unexpected way.

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Film Facts

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Official site: http://www.sunshinecleaning-themovie.co.uk/

UK Release Date: 26th June 2009

Director: Christine Jeffs

Writer: Megan Holley

Cast: Amy Adams (’Rose Lorkowski’), Emily Blunt (’Norah Lorkowski’), Alan Arkin (’Joe Norkowski’), Steve Zahn (’Mac’), Clifton Collins, Jr (’Winston’), Eric Christian Olsen (’Randy’), Kevin Chapman (’Carl Swanson’), Maddie Corman (’Mousy Baby Shower Guest’), Pab Schwendimann (’Apartment Super’), Josh Berry (’Television Detective’), Judith Jones (’Paula Datzman-Mead’)