Movie Review: Sunshine Cleaning

Sunshine Cleaning is a nice movie. Actually, it's not nice so much as it is short and sweet, like a tasty bite-sized piece of well-made film. I say that because it's rather short, and ends appropriately albeit a bit abruptly.

I had trouble compiling my feelings about this movie into one nice (there goes that word again...) and neat review so I read a few on the net. This one kind of sums up what I feel: http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2564976.htm

Anyhoodle, here goes. I watched this film as a "I actually wanted to watch it but never thought I would" sort of film. But I'm glad I did because I'd rather be funding indie films from America rather than terrible big-budget films from America (ie. Year One, The Land Of The Lost, The Hangover etc).

The story is about Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams) and her sister Norah (Emily Blunt) who start a cleaning agency, Sunshine Cleaning, where they clean up dead people's homes after their bodies have been removed. While none of the gory scenes were all that gory, it was the emotional impact of the scene that made it a bit more scary - the fact that the two sisters were encroaching upon space where people had died, or committed suicide, largely resonated within me, and it was a sad and a bit confronting sometimes.

That guy above with the moustache, Walter, I felt was a bit marginalised throughout the film because he was a great guy who had character potential that wasn't really explored. He plays the cleaning supplies shop owner who you think may end up together with Rose but it only turns into a tender friendship.

Rose's son Oscar is so adorable as the child prodigy who is kicked out of school because he is too smart...? It's a bit of a paradox.

Within the main framework of the plot comes a 'subplot' where Norah, who is psychologically scarred from seeing her mother's body after she committed suicide, tries to seek a female figure in her life to replace her mother. In comes Lynn (above with Norah) who is the daughter of a woman who has committed suicide and Sunshine Cleaning has stepped in to clean her house. They form a misguided 'relationship' of sorts. Norah is trying to gain closure, Lynn thinks Norah is interested in her. The result of this is a bit messy and once it finishes, it is never again explored in the film which I felt left a few gaps in the storyline.

All in all, Sunshine Cleaning was a very good but subtle movie. It was a semi-tragic but uplifting film about 'real life' in unreal circumstances. The acting was excellent - the characters made you laugh, cringe, gasp in shock and feel depressed. I think it deserves a 7.5-8 out of 10. Other reviewers (ie. SMH) gave it higher ratings, which makes me think that maybe because I'm not as seasoned as other reviewers, and maybe more "blockbuster-ised", I didn't truly appreciate the subtlety of the film.

~ Hurley Who?