"Sunshine Cleaning"

Mr. Salted and I went to see "Sunshine Cleaning" last night--had a nice dinner-and-movie date.

I adored this movie. I like Amy Adams more in every movie I see her in. Some of the more commercial stuff she's done isn't as much my cup of tea, but we all have to pay the rent and in movies I feel "eh" about, she's been a consistent standout. Emily Blunt was fantastic. The whole cast was amazing. They all felt real and believable and everything wasn't tied up with a ribbon bow at the end. There was comedy, but mostly drama. It wouldn't be a movie for everyone, but movies I like the most never are. :o)

The two main characters had lost their mother young, and naturally I could relate to that part. Important people are gone but not forgotten, and sometimes you will hang onto whatever small mementos you have to feel close to them again. I was grateful to see that illustrated beautifully in this film. I don't remember my mother, only having been two when she died, but she was still my mother. I think about her often, always have, and I don't think there's anything weird about it; I believe on some level she has always been with me. It isn't the same as having a mother, but at least it's something.

I liked a lot of the dialogue too. At one point a man the main character is seeing tells her, "That wasn't the way it was" and she responds, "How was it?" People always want to tell you the way it was as if it was the same for everyone. Pshaw.

The theater hooked onto a mall--onto a really snooty mall. We felt underdressed. It was like everyone was going to the prom, even if they were in their 40s. You could tell it was the place to meet and greet for the happenin' younger folk. I remembered (unpleasantly) having to shop at that very mall as a teenager with my thin, pretty stepsister. I just wanted to go to the Sanrio store, as I haven't been to one in years. (They had "Angry Little Girls" merchandise, and I love that book. I bought it for a friend recently.) I liked the Sanrio store, anyway, but Mr. Salted and I were both happy to make our escape.