I quite understand why the distributor may have been queasy uncomfortable, promoting Sunshine Cleaning as a movie centred on death, grief, loss and the ignominious messes left behind: biohazards, suicide, messy entrails. Forget that as a bait for a money-making date flick.Instead, the hucksters hitched their promotional wagon to Little Miss Sunshine, that charming dysfunctional all-in-the-family road-trip movie of a few years back. Because both Sunshine Cleaning and Little Miss Sunshine share the same producers, were both shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico with Alan Arkin once again in the loveable geezer role, they created a smudge in the public mind, caricaturing Sunshine Cleaning as a screwball sequel of sorts: yet another quirky Sundance comedy (or worse, an upbeat dramedy! – ugh!). ‘This year's Juno,’ boasts the TV blurb. Unfortunately, quirky comedy, Sunshine Cleaning is not (although you could never tell by the Sunshine Cleaning theatrical trailer).
If that weren’t bad enough, Sunshine Cleaning deals with even more forbidden Hollywood taboos: smalltown America, working class women, exploitation. Think back to the last good Hollywood movie you saw, centring on exploited working class women. Here’s my (very short) list: Norma Rae (1979), Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Fargo (1996). Indeed Norma Rae, in the modern era, is the only studio movie I can think of that even depicts deplorable factory conditions for most working women. And yet, working class women have been the centre of wonderful movies from elsewhere. British director Mike Leigh’s entire career is a paean, celebrating working class women’s lives: Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), Vera Drake (2004), Career Girls (1997), Secrets and Lies (1996).
Sam Goldwyn long ago brayed, ‘If you want to send a message, call Western Union,’ his argument being that Hollywood moviemakers were in the movie business, not the social change business. In other words, don’t come looking for Hollywood moguls to shed crocodile tears over some dame fighting for health and pension benefits, struggling to pay her electric bill. We’re capitalists, in this racket for greed. Nobody can make a buck, seeing those women on screen, being Goldwyn’s argument. Our studios are in the mega-hit business; we don't make small movies. Go away.
Unspoken is the notion that Hollywood mustn’t threaten America’s established order. As studio execs, we understand employers may exploit you, lie to you, cheat you, take away from you what is rightfully yours -- your health, a decent wage, a fit place to work. We may indulge in some of the same practices ourselves. What? Make movies to incite the downtrodden? Are you cracked?
As a consequence, Hollywood working class girls, when they surface, have Cinderella story-arcs - think Jennifer Aniston/Julia Roberts – happily-ever-after upwardly mobile into their marriage bed with their prince. Fade out.
And yet, times are changing. President Obama was elected on an ideal that we do, in fact, share common ground, and that if we ignore the plight of the less fortunate, we may well be ignoring the future of our society itself.
Sam Goldwyn long ago brayed, ‘If you want to send a message, call Western Union,’ his argument being that Hollywood moviemakers were in the movie business, not the social change business. In other words, don’t come looking for Hollywood moguls to shed crocodile tears over some dame fighting for health and pension benefits, struggling to pay her electric bill. We’re capitalists, in this racket for greed. Nobody can make a buck, seeing those women on screen, being Goldwyn’s argument. Our studios are in the mega-hit business; we don't make small movies. Go away.
Unspoken is the notion that Hollywood mustn’t threaten America’s established order. As studio execs, we understand employers may exploit you, lie to you, cheat you, take away from you what is rightfully yours -- your health, a decent wage, a fit place to work. We may indulge in some of the same practices ourselves. What? Make movies to incite the downtrodden? Are you cracked?
As a consequence, Hollywood working class girls, when they surface, have Cinderella story-arcs - think Jennifer Aniston/Julia Roberts – happily-ever-after upwardly mobile into their marriage bed with their prince. Fade out.
And yet, times are changing. President Obama was elected on an ideal that we do, in fact, share common ground, and that if we ignore the plight of the less fortunate, we may well be ignoring the future of our society itself.
The upshot of all this promotional flimflammery is that some uncomfortable (mostly male) critics have taken to lambast
ing Sunshine Cleaning for something the filmmakers never intended it to be (go to Rotten Tomatoes.com, to see just how uncomfortable!). Sunshine Cleaning is dark, not bright. It deals with dramas of unselfconscious real adults. At a time when most of us are losing economic ground, working class women arguably are in worse trouble than ever. Sunshine Cleaning speaks to its times, centres on badly damaged siblings, attempting to jump-start flawed lives, stars two charismatic young actors: Amy Adams (the young nun in Doubt) and Emily Blunt (the hectoring British assistant in Devil Wears Prada). It’s not a perfect movie: just a meditation by several talented women on the enduring consequences of death and its residual messes. Sunshine Cleaning is not a quirky comedy.
ing Sunshine Cleaning for something the filmmakers never intended it to be (go to Rotten Tomatoes.com, to see just how uncomfortable!). Sunshine Cleaning is dark, not bright. It deals with dramas of unselfconscious real adults. At a time when most of us are losing economic ground, working class women arguably are in worse trouble than ever. Sunshine Cleaning speaks to its times, centres on badly damaged siblings, attempting to jump-start flawed lives, stars two charismatic young actors: Amy Adams (the young nun in Doubt) and Emily Blunt (the hectoring British assistant in Devil Wears Prada). It’s not a perfect movie: just a meditation by several talented women on the enduring consequences of death and its residual messes. Sunshine Cleaning is not a quirky comedy.
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