Sunshine Cleaning -

In the pantheon of mid-2000s independent cinema, Sunshine Cleaning occupies a peculiar, slightly uncomfortable niche. Released in 2008 at the tail end of the "quirky indie" boom (a genre dominated by little ukuleles, pastel color palettes, and manic-pixie distractions), the film could have easily been a twee disaster. Instead, director Christine Jeffs and first-time screenwriter Megan Holley deliver a startlingly honest meditation on grief, class, and the Sisyphean effort of scrubbing one’s life clean when the mess keeps coming from the inside.

Directed by Christine Jeffs, Sunshine Cleaning is a poignant exploration of family, failure, and the messy process of starting over. It stars Amy Adams as Rose Lorkowski, a former high school cheerleader turned single mother working a mundane maid job. Sunshine Cleaning