The tale of two down-on-their-luck sisters who get work cleaning up
crime scenes bespeaks high-concept Sundance flavour of the month. But
the effect of Christine Jeffs’ movie is better than that. Her somewhat
scattered narrative, written by Megan Holley, is legitimized by Amy
Adams’ standout performance as single mom Rose, who feels undesired and
needs money to send her son to a different school, and by Emily Blunt
as her directionless sister Norah. Neither has fully come to terms with
their mother’s death.
Sunshine Cleaning never seriously examines the psychic
scarring effect of seeing murdered and mutilated bodies. Instead, Jeffs
uses the job as a metaphor. Rose and Norah clean up other peoples’
broken lives, while trying to keep their own from falling apart.
Sunshine Cleaning overcomes cheap shot temptation for a
sympathetic take on the American underclass.
This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2009.