SUNSHINE CLEANING

I've been watching movies and not writing about them. So here goes.

I saw Sunshine Cleaning on Netflix streaming a few days ago. It was a 2009 movie opening first at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008.

The movie had closed-captioning but was wide-screen format (with a wide screen computer the characters looked short and wide. Fortunately my eyes can adjust that, making it appear in proportion.)

Main Cast: Amy Adams as Rose Lorkowski, Emily Blunt as Norah Lorkowski, Alan Arkin as Joe Lorkowski, and Mary Lynn Rajskub as Lynn (who also appeared in Julie and Julia with Amy Adams.) Written by Megan Holley. Directed by Christine Jeffs.

I expected a comedy. It was a semi-serious movie with a few laughs. It was a professionally done movie, acting flawless, but the plot was not exciting.

The best part of the movie (for me) was the fact it was filmed in Albuquerque, NM, where I live. I recognized many of the buildings and roads.

However, Jonathan Miller, criminal lawyer and author of Rattlesnake Lawyer mystery series who spoke at SouthWest Writers organization in March, said that NM is so unique and different, a writer has to make NM one of the characters. This was missing in Sunshine Cleaning.

For instancee it had only one Hispanic character who didn't even use the NM accent. I don't know why I included this. No one really cares. I find accents fascinating. As it was a "blue collar" story, maybe I missed something.

It was a "slice of life story" more than plot or even character driven.

It was some what dull but not boring. Watching it is up to you.