Sunshine Cleaning‘s concept has “quirky indie” written all over it. The story of a down-on-her-luck single mother, who decides to open her own company with her sister–a cleaning service that caters to crime scenes and the sites of other grisly deaths–after learning from her married cop boyfriend (also the father of her son) that it’s a lucrative business, the film blends black comedy and family drama in a distinctively indie manner. Of course, the sisters have unresolved issues regarding a past family tragedy. Of course, their dad, played by Alan Arkin, is a kooky grandfather who treats her son, his grandson, like an adult and is always coming up with one crazy scheme after another. Of course, wacky hijinks ensue, to an oddball, folksy score, as do moments of quiet introspection that are both Intensely Deep™ and Meaningful™.
It is easy to forgive the film most of its eccentricities, like sometimes taking itself too seriously, however, because of how surprisingly restrained it is. The characters speak like real, live human beings, rather than exceedingly clever hipsters. The situation, while unusual, is presented in a fairly straightforward manner that never self-consciously announces, “Look how gruesomely adorable I am! I am both witty and ironic!” Instead, Sunshine Cleaning delves into both the funny and sad aspects of its characters and this particular profession–funny in how extremely odd it can be, and sad for all of the obvious reasons–and while it never quite reaches the level of Six Feet Under, it does at times remind the viewer of that show’s unique ability to demonstrate the bizarreness and the unexpected beauty of being in a field in which one is daily confronted with death, regularly affected by people one never met in life. Further, Alan Arkin, unlike his similar character in Little Miss Sunshine isn’t actually a cartoon brought to life, and neither are any of the other characters. The film is as non-indulgent as a film of its type can be. In other words, it’s still fairly indulgent, what with the melodramatic backstory and a number of character threads that are purposefully (and frustratingly) left unresolved in that specifically indie way, but these quirks are forgivable, since the film itself is shot and directed in such a non-quirky, non-obtrusive manner.
Sunshine Cleaning succeeds most of all, though, due to the truly wonderful Amy Adams, who has the ability to slip into just about every major role she is given with flawless grace. She has an extraordinary and distinctive screen presence that allows her to play roles that run the gamut from silly, optimistic princesses, flighty glamor queens, plain Jane receptionists, to lower middle class mothers with honesty and truth. She has a face that can be either strikingly gorgeous or pretty in a more everyday manner, depending on the makeup and costuming, and projects an inherently kind personality that allows her to sell each persona in a way that feels more genuine than the average Hollywood actress.
When someone like Charlize Theron or Nicole Kidman plays “ugly” for a role, there tends to be a level of self-conscious self-aggrandizement to it. One does not get that same sense from Amy Adams. She doesn’t need fright makeup to play an “ordinary” person, nor does she need a full department store’s worth of cosmetics to look radiant. Most of it comes from within, and that shines through in each of her roles. That is certainly the case here, where we never for a minute disbelieve the validity of her various decisions throughout the film, because as outlandish as they might be, she grounds her character, Rose, in humanity. Her emotions are honest throughout, and her reactions often surprising. Whereas another actress might have chosen to respond with tears in a certain scene, Adams chooses to burst into laughter, eschewing typical histrionics for an often more spontaneous and non-telegraphed approach. As a film, Sunshine Cleaning can feel a bit manipulated at certain points, but Rose’s character never does, and Adams deserves the majority of the credit for that.
Overall, Sunshine Cleaning is a very solid film. It can be too earnest and, after the plucky first hour, it unfortunately descends into an unnecessary, downbeat tone for a lengthy portion of the last thirty minutes (the result of the Unresolved Issues™ relating to the Melodramatic Back Story™ finally catching up with the characters). A strong lead performance and a dedication to presenting its story as naturalistically as possible, despite the often less-naturalistic tendencies of its screenplay, however, easily makes Sunshine Cleaning an eminently recommendable dark comedy for people who like their indie films with minimal quirk.
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