When it’s actually light out past 5pm at the end of the day you can actually see well enough to notice the coconut flakes from the cupcake on the carpet and the dust bunnies in the corner which are actually more like dust dachshunds. 

edfaSpring cleaning is not be taken lightly because once you start sorting through closets, drawers, and the “I don’t know what to do with it so I’ll just put it under the bed” box, you quickly hit the point of no return. You will realize this juncture when your entire apartment is turned upside down and you have to hurdle the stack of self help books to get to the toilet. This is when you lose the will to live and consider a match.

During such a time when I left my house in disgust and tripped over the thigh master, I fled to the movies. “Sunshine Cleaning,” which was supposed to be a distraction actually brought home the larger issues which I’d been subconsciously facing. Who cleans up after our messes? Especially the emotionally toxic ones?

офис обзавежданеThe story follows two young women who are struggling with their identities, one with a young son to care for and another who lives with their not so successful scheming father. Through the help of a one-armed janitorial supply store owner, they discover the lucrative field of crime scene clean up. In the wake of disaster and death, it is their job to clean up the mess. While there is a fair amount of dark humor in their chosen profession there also emerges the pathos of connecting to the lives of those left behind, paralleling their own emotional journey after the death of their mother.

It’s a dirty job and no one wants to do it, describes not only the physical hazards of blood and body fluid but the mental challenge to take in the enormity of loss and find a way to shine a light on it and deal with it instead of hiding it in a closet until it starts to decay and we only remember it by a bad smell.

As the audience we care for these two young women played by Amy Adams and Emily Blunt, and as someone who isn’t exactly in the place I want to be in my own life, can share in the cringe of what it’s like to be around those who seem to have it all when you’re struggling. The film points out that baby showers and unwatched candles are both dangerous in different ways. (The film did cure me of my thoughts of taking a match to my own mess at home.)

Whether or not your door has crime scene tape in front of it, cleaning up your own mess is indeed profound. My pine floors glow, my sink is back to sparkling silver, and the box under the bed has been emptied except for my favorite writing clips. However, that was the easy part.  Now it’s onto the dust dachshunds in my head.