Friday 26 June 2009

REVIEW: Sunshine Cleaning


Another day, another entry into the Indie movie centered around a dysfunctional family with an occasionally dark sense of humor. Still, this is a tad better then most, keeping the quirk rationed into tolerable amounts and containing a couple of good performances. Highest praise goes to Emily Blunt, who gives her character a real warmth and relatability. She is very under-rated but seems to be getting her due, post Devil Wears Prada which she stole from even Meryl Streep. Similarly, this movie will do nothing to hurt the rising star of Amy Adams, earning yet more credibility on the back of two Oscar nominations and coming out of night at the museum 2 unscathed. She is solid here, and retains that beaming persona which has made her one of the most likable actresses around. The central concept of crime scene clean up is a good one which slots very nicely into the indie world which this movie so clearly resides, and provides many blackly comic moments such as the debate of whether scrubbing or spraying is best suited to getting dry blood of the walls, and people tripping and falling onto mattresses covered in brain matter. At its heart though, the movie is a character piece, and a quietly downbeat one at that, sure there's comedy, but the two sisters played by the actresses above deal with their disappointing lives, economic crises and lingering after effects of their mother's suicide. Its a pretty conventional indie movie really, doing nothing strikingly new, but the acting and at times the writing make it worth the watch.

Rating: 7/10

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