Tonight, my sister invited me to go see the independent-ish movie, Sunshine Cleaning. The movie played at an old theater in downtown Tacoma called, The Grand Cinema. Essentially, the theater is a non-profit, run by volunteers who are devoted to the cultural enrichment of the community while supporting independent film makers.
The 3 screen theater is nestled into a historic section of Tacoma and is surrounded by a bar (I think?) and a photography gallery. The building is old and comes with all the charms of a historic architectural feat - distinctive odor, old woodwork and calm ambiance.
This was my first time going to the theater and I was happy to have had the experience with my sister and her friend visiting from Boston.
The movie was great. Amy Adams is awesome as is Alan Arkin who looks fabulous in some vintage Diane Von Furstenberg style giant tortoise shell sunglasses. The movie is about a single mom, Rose, (Adams) who has been working as a cleaning lady for rich people in Albuquerque. She has been forever in love with her high school sweetheart, who is married to another woman and has children. While she tells people she's in real estate school at night, she's actually meeting the sweetheart at a motel and having an affair. Her unemployed sister watches her son while she goes to 'night school'. When Rose finds herself cleaning a high school friend's house, she takes some advice from the sweetheart (who's a detective) and begins her own crime scene clean-up business.
She recruits her sister to do these jobs with her and they become quite successful. During the course of the movie, they become attached to some of the families that they are cleaning for and realize their lives sort of parallel these families. When they were young, their mother committed suicide while they played outside in a sprinkler. They had always been told their mother was an extra in a film as a waitress. The sisters watched every movie they could that had a waitress in it, waiting for her signature line, "I recommend the pecan pie...".
In the end, they make some self-realizations and have to close the business after the sister accidentally burns down one of the houses they have been contracted to clean. They finally see their mother on TV, the sister leaves for a road trip and the dad joins Rose in a refreshed cleaning business that he has funded by selling the family home.
It had a great story line, an awesome finish and you got to see the characters grow successfully through the film. I'm so glad I went and I'm equally glad my sister invited me. (thank you!)
I didn't mean for this to turn into a film review, but there really was no better place to see this flick other than The Grand Cinema.
1 comment:
Great photo, great review. I haven't heard of that film... but I have heard of the Grand. Suprisingly, my dad goes there quite often. He even sees foreign films with subtitles.
Your post was wonderful- makes me want to see the movie at that theater. With your sister!
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