Sunshine Cleaning

[meemee]

Anyone watch that movie?

I really, really enjoyed the movie.

anyone else love it or hate it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Cleaning

[Verity]

I have a hard time getting interested in movies with ads that bash you over the head with how hip and charming they are supposed to be. I felt the same way about Juno and Little Miss Sunshine--I refuse to see either one.

[meemee]

you mean based on the ad you wont watch the movie? i havent seen the ads for neither of those movies (just happened to be at the theater and saw the little blurb and decided to watch all of them) and i enjoyed all 3 of them.

i see you are a fan of Daniel Handler from your siggie. have you ever heard him speak. i head an interview on the radio and for an hour i was riveted. i couldnt get out of the car and sat in the grocery store parking lot listening to the interview. loved his wit.

[mata]

wow, if I hadn't seen Little Miss Sunshine I would have really missed out. I will see anything with Alan Arkin-I've loved him since The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, and I also love Amy Adams.

[KaraBoo]

I loved Emily Blount in this film. She was amazing and I was happy to see that she didn't let her accent slip

Amy Adams was great esp in all the close ups where you can read it all on her face.

But I really liked the cleaning supplies man! LOL I loved his hair esp.

[bayberry*moon]

Ohh I have yet to see this film, but I'm glad to hear that it's good! I'm a fan of both Amy Adams & Emily Blunt, so that's my main reason for wanting to see this film.

mata - yes, definitely would have missed out by not seeing Little Miss Sunshine! Alan Arkin was great in that ("I'm madly in love with you and it's not because of your brains or your personality") and he's in Sunshine Cleaning too!

[Verity]

I was being awfully snarky in my post, but ads do sometimes have an effect on my enthusiasm for a movie. I've heard lots of people rave about LMS and Juno, but I think I'm somehow not as hip as the people targeted in their ads. Does that make any sense at all? I also have a hard time with the premise of Sunshine Cleaning. Crime scene cleanup?

Yes, I'm a Daniel Handler fan, and I'll bet he's a great speaker.

[KaraBoo]

When you learn of the family's past, the crime cleanup is even MORE poignant and relevant.

And after seeing one trailer, I guessed how the movie would begin. My husband was surprised and yet not surprised cuz he knows how I like to figure movies out

[Verity]

So it begins with a tragic death? The main characters' mother was murdered?

[meemee]

no no. it begins with single mom trying to survive as a regular house cleaner. then bf tells her about cleaning up crime scenes. there's a lot of money in it. and so she accepts it..... mom died when they were kids and kinda parallels the emotional growth of the sister of main character who helps out with the crime scene cleaning.

imho it is not a 'painful' movie like slumdog millionaire was.

[KaraBoo]

I meant the opening scene. I don't want to tell too much (or have we already?)...

[Verity]

Originally Posted by meemee

imho it is not a 'painful' movie like slumdog millionaire was.

Well, that's good to know. I would avoid it like the plague if I knew it had a violent murder scene.

I'll never see Slumdog Millionaire because of the torture scene(s). I don't know the details, and don't want to know. The inclusion of graphic scenes is really a shame, IMO, because it looks like a good movie otherwise. Maybe they'll clean it up for tv someday.

I long for the good old days when violence in movies was implied or done in a way that didn't give people nightmares.

I'm off on a tangent here.

[meemee]

Originally Posted by Verity

Well, that's good to know. I would avoid it like the plague if I knew it had a violent murder scene.

uh oh!!! there is one rather sad scene. which to me was worse than anything in slumdog. its maybe a 2 minute scene but what made it sad for me was it was shot thru the children's eyes, while slumdog was showing what was happening to the kids. but that's my perspective. and that's what made the movie meaningful.

if you still want to watch it i would watch it on the dvd when it comes out and have someone else cut out the scene for you - or sit with you and fast forward it.

there is also one blood in bathroom scene which i felt was needed for the scene otherwise a viewer just does not grasp the whole experience of what they do. it is all done tastefully and really i found none of them was an extra. that they should have avoided it.

but if the very sight of blood makes you squeamish then yeah i would totally stay away from the movie.

[Verity]

Blood, in small amounts, isn't really the issue. I can't handle anything involving traumatic things happening to children (past a cartoonish level, such as A Series of Unfortunate Events), so I don't think I'll be seeing this movie.

Thanks for letting me know about that scene.

I understand the "that's what makes the movie meaningful" argument about including graphic scenes, but there's a fine line between meaningful and nighmarish. I think it's possible to tell a story effectively and evoke emotion without being so graphic.

[meemee]

it isnt so much as a graphic scene. its more about the little sister's reaction that she carries with her all her life and tries to heal from. and doing the work helps her come face to face with her fears instead of running away from them as she has always done before. it wasnt so much what she saw but the sight of a maybe 4 year old come running out crying just completely felt like someone twisting a knife in my heart.