Sunshine Cleaning

     Some people can't move forward until they are willing to let go of the past.

     A 2009 independent film about the Norkowski family. The father, Joe ( Alan Arkin ), and his two daughters,  Rose ( Amy Adams ) and Norah ( Emily Blunt ) have had a dark cloud hanging over them for many years. When the children were young, Mrs. Norkowski committed suicide, leaving a deep feeling of emptiness in the survivors.

     They are lacking in the skills and education that would allow them to make a good living.

     Rose suffers from low self-esteem due to her job, many failed relationships, and not understanding why her mother chose to leave her when she was a child. She cleans houses for a living, and was once treated with quiet disdain when she tried to have a friendly conversation with the employer's daughter. The teenager just looked at her with contempt, then turned her back and walked away. Rose has a young son, Oscar, who is having problems in school due to his high energy level. She needs to find a way to make more money so she can give her son a private education. The identity of the child's father is unknown.
Rose is currently dating Mac ( Steve Zahn ), a married police officer. He had been her boyfriend in high school when he was the football quarterback and she was captain of the cheer leading squad. For some reason, Mac chose to marry and raise a family with another woman. He and Rose meet once a week for sex at the local motel. She is his dirty little secret.

     Norah, the younger sister, seems totally indifferent to life, can't keep a job and is too apathetic to care. Her last job was working as a waitress for Asian owners. She didn't look happy to be there, and when she tripped and dropped a customer's food, the owner fired her. Norah took off her apron and dropped it on the floor on her way out of the restaurant.

      Joe is a dreamer who makes his living jumping from one money-making scheme to another. He is also a loving parent to his daughters and grandson.
 
     During Rose's weekly visit with Mac, he tells her about responding to a call from a gun shop. A man walked in and shot himself in the head, leaving a mess all over the store. He mentions the big bucks paid for crime-scene cleanup, and tells Rose that she could easily do this as it's not so different from regular housework. Just gory.

     Rose places an ad in the paper, and calls her business Sunshine Cleaning. After several days, she gets a call from a property owner who needs someone to clean up a room where a man had been shot to death by his wife. Rose takes Norah with her. They make $500 for one day of work.

     Excited, Rose calls Mac at home to get more pointers about the job, but he tells her never to call his house again, because his wife might answer. She looks depressed and hangs up. Norah tells her he will never leave his wife and that she is wasting her whole life waiting for him. Rose realizes she can't move forward in life unless she cuts her losses with him, and tells him so when she sees him again. Sadly, Mac does not seem to understand that before he can be a decent husband and father, he also needs to turn loose of the past. He tries to see her again, but she refuses.
   
     Rose and Norah make friends with Winston ( Clifton Collins Jr.), who is the owner of an industrial cleaning supply store. He has only one arm and is very shy around Rose, who he obviously likes. He serves as a mentor for the two women, explaining that they need to use special chemicals, wear bio-hazzard suits, take classes, and buy liability insurance. Rose does not buy the insurance, and when she sends Norah out on her own to start the cleanup in a house, there is an accidental fire and they will have to pay over $30,000 in damages out of their own pockets.

     Rose goes back to work as a house keeper, thinking her dream is dead, but her father sells his house and invests in resurrecting Sunshine Cleaning. He will be working as her partner since Norah has decided to travel across country. Winston will continue to assist them.

     Amy Adams as Rose Norkowski   also in Leap Year, Julie and Julia, 
     Junebug, and Catch Me If You Can
     Emily Blunt as Norah Norkowski   also in The Young Victoria,
     Wind Chill, and The Devil Wears Prada
     Alan Arkin as Joe Norkowski   also in Marley And Me, Get Smart,  
      and Catch-22
     Steve Zhan as Mac   also in Comanche Moon and Management
     Clifton Collins Jr. as Winston   also in Abraham Lincoln Vampire  
     Hunter, Pacific Rim, and Capote