Sunshine Cleaning; comedy drama
June 21st 2009 10:13
Bloody Business by Linh
Who ya gonna call? Not the Ghostbusters but rather the sanitising sisters of Sunshine Cleaning.
Sunshine Cleaning is the latest offering from the producers of hit indie flick Little Miss Sunshine, and is based on a real life story about two best female friends in the Seattle suburbs of America, who started a bio-hazard removal/cleaning service.
The film follows the lives of two sisters from Albuquerque who set up a crime scene cleaning service, which involves cleaning and removing body parts and fluids; the cleaning becomes a metaphor for both of them in coping with their mother’s death.
Funnily, the name Albuquerque almost sounds like ‘I’ll be quirky’ or ‘all be quirky’, and Sunshine Cleaning has exactly the style of quirkiness found in most independent films these days.
Oscar nominee for Doubt, Amy Adams, stars as the hardworking and persevering Rose Lorkowski, who’s stuck in a thankless job as a cleaner and subconsciously hangs onto her happy high school years through naughty nights with her married ex-lover, Mac.
Rose keeps herself in control of life’s setbacks by reciting words of encouragement to herself with “You’re strong, you’re powerful, you can do anything”. When her young son is kicked out of school, she is forced to find funds to send him to a top-notch private school and avoid the “specialised schooling” the Principal suggested. After taking on the advice of her ex-lover, Rose starts up her new crime scene cleaning service with her younger sister Norah.
Amy Adams shows her versatility, ranging in roles from the fairytale princess in Enchanted to a god-fearing nun in Doubt. She gives a wonderful performance as a single mother who refuses to let life’s catastrophes (and Rose has many) get her down, and delivers every line with outward cheeriness juxtaposed with inner sadness. It’s her eyes that do much of the ‘acting’ in most scenes and Adams cleverly utilises her facial nuances to great effect.
Playing the role of Rose’s slack and laid-back younger sister, Norah Lorkowski, is the beautiful English actress Emily Blunt, who leaves behind any trace of Britishness to provide a highly convincing American accent. She even pimps up her Americanisms with hip Generation Y lingo such as “being a bastard is a free pass to cool” or “huge woodie”.
Norah was very young when her mother died, and it seems as though she is coping as well as Rose, but the loss of a parent leads her to rebel against conformity/authority and ends in lack of confidence in herself. She still lives with her father and has no direction in life, and feels stuck in the doldrums most of the time.
Emily Blunt plays the irresponsible Norah with both physical and verbal aplomb. She creates a believable slacker through her stooping as though she couldn’t care less and feet-dragging as if nothing is important for her to attend to. Blunt cleverly blends humour with her character’s grimness as it is likely Norah deals with grief through humour.
Alan Arkin, who appeared in Little Miss Sunshine, is the positively charged Joe Lorkowski, father of Rose and Norah, who continues conjuring up new ideas to make money for his family. After each business scheme fails, he happily moves onto the next without dwelling on past failures or upsets.
Arkin’s portrayal of Joe is superb and gives his character the upbeat optimistic fervour in the film. Arkin may be playing fatherly roles in most films, but he always manages to keep it fresh and entertaining.
It’s unusual that one of Alan Arkin’s lines in the trailer and in the film differs and is shown from a slightly different angle. In the trailer for the film he says: “It’s a business lie, it’s not the same as a life lie.”
In the film Arkin’s line is:”It’s a business lie, it’s different from a life lie.”
Could the same be different? Is it just some quirkiness from the film’s producers?
The film’s theme is death, which is a bleak and almost taboo subject in many cultures and everyone deals with it differently. Sunshine Cleaning puts a positive and happy spin on a job that involves the aftermath of death and some blood-drenched scenes are quite gruesome and stomach-churning. Rose describes it as “we come into people’s lives when they have experienced something profound and sad and we help.”
Removing human body parts and bodily fluids sounds gross and looks awful, but it’s a metaphor for both Rose and Norah in different ways.
Rose has been having an illicit affair with her married ex-lover from high school, Mac, and she cannot let go of the ‘popular and prettiest girl’ image of herself in those earlier years. When she finally finds the gumption in letting go of Mac and moving on, it is analogous with a cleansing of emotions and mental anguish which remained since her mother’s death.
In Norah’s case, she experiences an awakening of her repressed sexuality and seeks comfort in the company of new friend, Lynn, whom she found after ‘cleaning’ Lynn’s mother’s house. Norah finds a common bond with Lynn as both their mothers are dead and her meeting with Lynn represents a change in life direction and ‘removing’ herself from a current state of uncertainty and hidden sadness.
The appearance of blood is found in almost every scene that needs cleaning, and has strong significance in the characters’ development throughout the film.
Blood acts as a symbolic image for connection, life force and humanity in general.
In the film, Norah discovers Lynn works as a nurse at the blood donor centre and offers to donate blood. This act of giving blood represents not only a generous act on the surface, but deeper meaning is found when the blood and its components (such as plasma or platelets) are used to save lives; the irony being that Norah may again come across the blood when she ‘cleans’ for her Sunshine Cleaning business. Therefore, blood can be given and lost, which parallels life itself, that is given through birth and lost in death.
The supporting cast is fantastic, especially Jason Spevack as Rose’s young son Oscar whose cheekiness and curiosity lands him in plenty of trouble; Steve Zahn is charming as the ex-lover Mac; Mary Lynn Rajskub (co-star in hit TV programme 24 with Kiefer Sutherland) shines in her minor role as Norah’s potential lesbian lover, Lynn; and Clifton Collins Jr. shows how handy he can be with only one arm as the store owner Winston, and a possible future lover for Rose.
Sunshine Cleaning is an upbeat and enjoyable film, with quirky characters fleshed out through marvellous performances from the entire cast and a rocking musical soundtrack accompanies the film.
Hopefully, Sunshine Cleaning will be remembered when Academy Award nominations come around for 2010, as Amy Adams and Emily Blunt are both deserving of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards respectively.
Director: Christine Jeffs
Cast: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spevack, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Steve Zahn, Clifton Collins Jr., Amy Redford
Screenwriter: Megan Holley
Producers: Jeb Brody, Bob Dohrmann, Dan Genetti, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, Glenn Williamson
Running Time: 1 hour 32 minutes
CHEMICAL QUEENS: Rose (Amy Adams) and Norah (Emily Blunt) stock up on detergents and cleaning gear in the film Sunshine Cleaning. Image: Madman Entertainment.
Who ya gonna call? Not the Ghostbusters but rather the sanitising sisters of Sunshine Cleaning.
Sunshine Cleaning is the latest offering from the producers of hit indie flick Little Miss Sunshine, and is based on a real life story about two best female friends in the Seattle suburbs of America, who started a bio-hazard removal/cleaning service.
The film follows the lives of two sisters from Albuquerque who set up a crime scene cleaning service, which involves cleaning and removing body parts and fluids; the cleaning becomes a metaphor for both of them in coping with their mother’s death.
Funnily, the name Albuquerque almost sounds like ‘I’ll be quirky’ or ‘all be quirky’, and Sunshine Cleaning has exactly the style of quirkiness found in most independent films these days.
CLEANING CREW: Rose (Amy Adams) and Norah (Emily Blunt) spray and wipe in the film Sunshine Cleaning. Image: Madman Entertainment.
Oscar nominee for Doubt, Amy Adams, stars as the hardworking and persevering Rose Lorkowski, who’s stuck in a thankless job as a cleaner and subconsciously hangs onto her happy high school years through naughty nights with her married ex-lover, Mac.
Rose keeps herself in control of life’s setbacks by reciting words of encouragement to herself with “You’re strong, you’re powerful, you can do anything”. When her young son is kicked out of school, she is forced to find funds to send him to a top-notch private school and avoid the “specialised schooling” the Principal suggested. After taking on the advice of her ex-lover, Rose starts up her new crime scene cleaning service with her younger sister Norah.
Amy Adams shows her versatility, ranging in roles from the fairytale princess in Enchanted to a god-fearing nun in Doubt. She gives a wonderful performance as a single mother who refuses to let life’s catastrophes (and Rose has many) get her down, and delivers every line with outward cheeriness juxtaposed with inner sadness. It’s her eyes that do much of the ‘acting’ in most scenes and Adams cleverly utilises her facial nuances to great effect.
Playing the role of Rose’s slack and laid-back younger sister, Norah Lorkowski, is the beautiful English actress Emily Blunt, who leaves behind any trace of Britishness to provide a highly convincing American accent. She even pimps up her Americanisms with hip Generation Y lingo such as “being a bastard is a free pass to cool” or “huge woodie”.
Norah was very young when her mother died, and it seems as though she is coping as well as Rose, but the loss of a parent leads her to rebel against conformity/authority and ends in lack of confidence in herself. She still lives with her father and has no direction in life, and feels stuck in the doldrums most of the time.
Emily Blunt plays the irresponsible Norah with both physical and verbal aplomb. She creates a believable slacker through her stooping as though she couldn’t care less and feet-dragging as if nothing is important for her to attend to. Blunt cleverly blends humour with her character’s grimness as it is likely Norah deals with grief through humour.
FAMILY FOOD: The close-knit Lorkowski family discuss the new cleaning business (Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spevack) in the film Sunshine Cleaning. Image: Madman Entertainment.
Alan Arkin, who appeared in Little Miss Sunshine, is the positively charged Joe Lorkowski, father of Rose and Norah, who continues conjuring up new ideas to make money for his family. After each business scheme fails, he happily moves onto the next without dwelling on past failures or upsets.
Arkin’s portrayal of Joe is superb and gives his character the upbeat optimistic fervour in the film. Arkin may be playing fatherly roles in most films, but he always manages to keep it fresh and entertaining.
It’s unusual that one of Alan Arkin’s lines in the trailer and in the film differs and is shown from a slightly different angle. In the trailer for the film he says: “It’s a business lie, it’s not the same as a life lie.”
In the film Arkin’s line is:”It’s a business lie, it’s different from a life lie.”
Could the same be different? Is it just some quirkiness from the film’s producers?
The film’s theme is death, which is a bleak and almost taboo subject in many cultures and everyone deals with it differently. Sunshine Cleaning puts a positive and happy spin on a job that involves the aftermath of death and some blood-drenched scenes are quite gruesome and stomach-churning. Rose describes it as “we come into people’s lives when they have experienced something profound and sad and we help.”
Removing human body parts and bodily fluids sounds gross and looks awful, but it’s a metaphor for both Rose and Norah in different ways.
Rose has been having an illicit affair with her married ex-lover from high school, Mac, and she cannot let go of the ‘popular and prettiest girl’ image of herself in those earlier years. When she finally finds the gumption in letting go of Mac and moving on, it is analogous with a cleansing of emotions and mental anguish which remained since her mother’s death.
In Norah’s case, she experiences an awakening of her repressed sexuality and seeks comfort in the company of new friend, Lynn, whom she found after ‘cleaning’ Lynn’s mother’s house. Norah finds a common bond with Lynn as both their mothers are dead and her meeting with Lynn represents a change in life direction and ‘removing’ herself from a current state of uncertainty and hidden sadness.
BLOOD BOND: Lynn (Mary Lynn Rajskub) suspects Norah (Emily Blunt) is following her in the film Sunshine Cleaning. Image: Madman Entertainment.
The appearance of blood is found in almost every scene that needs cleaning, and has strong significance in the characters’ development throughout the film.
Blood acts as a symbolic image for connection, life force and humanity in general.
In the film, Norah discovers Lynn works as a nurse at the blood donor centre and offers to donate blood. This act of giving blood represents not only a generous act on the surface, but deeper meaning is found when the blood and its components (such as plasma or platelets) are used to save lives; the irony being that Norah may again come across the blood when she ‘cleans’ for her Sunshine Cleaning business. Therefore, blood can be given and lost, which parallels life itself, that is given through birth and lost in death.
The supporting cast is fantastic, especially Jason Spevack as Rose’s young son Oscar whose cheekiness and curiosity lands him in plenty of trouble; Steve Zahn is charming as the ex-lover Mac; Mary Lynn Rajskub (co-star in hit TV programme 24 with Kiefer Sutherland) shines in her minor role as Norah’s potential lesbian lover, Lynn; and Clifton Collins Jr. shows how handy he can be with only one arm as the store owner Winston, and a possible future lover for Rose.
Sunshine Cleaning is an upbeat and enjoyable film, with quirky characters fleshed out through marvellous performances from the entire cast and a rocking musical soundtrack accompanies the film.
Hopefully, Sunshine Cleaning will be remembered when Academy Award nominations come around for 2010, as Amy Adams and Emily Blunt are both deserving of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards respectively.
SUNSHINE SISTERS: Rose (Amy Adams) inspects the damage while Norah (Emily Blunt) holds back the vomit in the film Sunshine Cleaning. Image: Madman Entertainment.
Director: Christine Jeffs
Cast: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spevack, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Steve Zahn, Clifton Collins Jr., Amy Redford
Screenwriter: Megan Holley
Producers: Jeb Brody, Bob Dohrmann, Dan Genetti, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, Glenn Williamson
Running Time: 1 hour 32 minutes
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Comments (1)
Comment by Linh
on off the cuff
Celluloid Fun
I like your poem.
Reminds me of how cynical, untrusting, and deceptive we humans can be just to survive and be happy.
Overall, I think your poem means to me that poets have freedom to express in written words much easily than in spoken words.
I just studied some of William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge poetry for English and they were very interesting.
Cheers!