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Clean (2021 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Clean' is a 2021 American action thriller film directed by Paul Solet and starring Adrien Brody, who also produced and wrote the film.
Plot
In Utica, New York, a garbage truck driver nicknamed Clean, who works everyday transporting garbage in urban residential areas filled with criminals. After finishing his job, he collects some scraps that might still be usable, then repairs and sells them to a thrift shop owned by one of his acquaintances. Since divorcing his wife, Clean has lived alone in a workshop while his daughter has long since died. He is always haunted and tortured by the memories of what happened to his beloved daughter and the crimes he had committed in the past. He prepared a meal the next morning for his neighbor, a teenage girl named Dianda, who is an orphan living with her grandmother.
Meanwhile, a man named Michael is waiting for his son, Mikey, outside the prison gates. As Michael was about to go and meet his son, Mikey is instead picked up by his friends and drives away with them. Annoyed with Mikeys behavior, he decided to let it slide.
While picking up trash in the evening near a seafood restaurant owned by Michael, Clean notices Michael and his armed goons are in the middle of a drug trafficking deal which they smuggle through the fishs body from China. However, Clean continued to do his job as usual. Michael seemed annoyed that the Chinese are giving them five less cocaine pouches than the 200 degrees upon.
The next morning, Clean sees Dianda walking down the street and was told that her school bus no longer operates in her area due to service cuts. As a result, he then offered Dianda to drive her to school. After sending her to school, Clean dropped off a bike at Diandas house that belonged to his daughter. However, Diandas grandmother, Ethel, came out and asked why Clean was so concerned about her. Clean replied he did it to save himself from the guilt that always tormented him. Following this, Ethel tells him that hes a nice guy. But Clean responded back that hes not.
Meanwhile during the drug deal at Michaels restaurant, Michael beats one of his Chinese partners to death for not following the agreement. Mikey, who saw his fathers actions was silent in horror by his fathers cruelty. That evening, Clean notices the blood and the glasses of Michaels partner that he brutally murder while emptying the container. As he empties the container, Michael suddenly appeared behind him and apologizes to him for the stench. He tries to offer some money for Clean, but Clean refuses and continues doing his job.
The next day, Cleans car breaks down in the middle of the road. While inspecting where the damage came from, a group of thugs chasing a man into the alley next to Clean. When Clean decided to step up and help the man, suddenly one of the thugs appeared behind him and knocks him out with a baseball bat. Clean wakes up in a hospital and was told a doctor to take prescribed medication, but Clean refuses and chose to go straight home.
The next day while on paid leave, Clean drives by and sees Dianda hanging with some thugs. He tells her that its getting late and go home. Dianda coldly replied hes not her father to order her around. The thugs get confrontational and ordered Clean to leave. However, Dianda finally complied with Cleans request to avoid an argument.
While driving back, Clean notices Diandas in front of the thugs house. When Clean arrived at the front door, he notices Dianda being force-fed with drugs and alcohol and being harassed by the thugs. Without thinking, Clean immediately beat the thugs with a plumbing wrench indiscriminately. After beating them all, Clean just realized that he had beaten Michaels son brutally. He then takes Dianda outside to Ethel and left home.
The next morning, Michael stands over to Mikey at home. He was told that Mikey needs surgery or he might never speak again, but Michael refuses so Mikey can learn a lesson from his disobedience. Michael watches a recording that captured Cleans identity. He orders Frank, a corrupt police officer, to kill Dianda and her grandmother first and bring Clean alive.
Meanwhile, Clean attempts to leave the city with Dianda and Ethel, but notices that hes being followed. While being pulled over, he realizes that the police officer has been bribed by Michael and speeds off in a chase. His car starts breaking down but manages to outrun the police. They then stop by a diner, where Dianda escorts her grandmother to use the restroom while Clean looks around the parking a lot to steal another vehicle. While looking around, some of Michaels henchmen notices his car and enters the diner to kill Dianda and Ethel. However, Clean manages to kill them one-by-one before they manage to get to them.
Because Dianda and Ethel witnessed how Clean brutally murdered Michaels goons, it is finally revealed that Clean was a former professional assassin. But after his daughter died, Clean decided to quit and secluded himself in the city.
After stopping at a motel for the night, Ethel blames Clean for putting them in danger and for not being able to return home. Clean vows to make things right and returns to the neighborhood. He returned to his residence to collect the money that he had to buy weapons from his friends thrift shop and prepares for his fight with Michael.
Meanwhile at Michaels residence, Frank gets a phone call from one of his fellow officers that Clean is a former professional assassin referred to as The Grim Reaper who disappeared years ago. Michael gets a phone call from Clean, who warns him that he knows his address and that he is coming for him. Knowing that the Grim Reaper will come after him, Michael prepares all his men to deal with Clean.
Unaware that Clean is already outside, Clean crashes the garbage truck into Michaels home and engages in a shootout with Michaels men effortlessly. When Clean was about to look for Michaels whereabouts, he gets surprised by Michael and was beaten by him. But Clean manages to reach his wrench and the turn fight around. Before Clean was about to kill Michael, Mikey comes out of his room with a gun. Michael seemed happy and thinks his son will kill Clean, but Mikey instead shoots his father. He then attempts to kill Clean but run out of ammo.
Some time after the fight, it is finally shown that Diandas neighborhood has now been freed from the disturbances of criminal activities as more kids have come out to play in the street. While pedaling down the street, Dianda notices a garbage truck approaching and smiles.
Cast
* Adrien Brody as Clean
* Glenn Fleshler as Michael
* Richie Merritt as Mikey
* Chandler DuPont as Dianda
* Mykelti Williamson as Travis
* RZA as Pawn Shop Kurt
* Michelle Wilson as Ethel
* John Bianco as Frank
* Gerard Cordero as Vic
* Catherine Nastasi as Mikey's Mom
* Alex Corrado as Tommy
* Jade Yorker as Dante
Release
The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 19, 2021.
On September 1, 2021, it was announced that IFC Films acquired North American distribution rights to the film. It was released in theaters on January 28, 2022. In April 2022, IFC Films signed an output deal with AMC+. The film was released on the streaming service on May 6, 2022.
Reception
Box office
In the United States and Canada, the film earned $162,098 from 254 theaters in its opening weekend.Critical response
Nick Schager of 'Variety' gave the film a negative review and wrote, "Obvious and derivative in borderline-shameless fashion, its a B-movie knock-off with little originality and even less flair." Andrew Mack of Screen Anarchy gave the film a positive review and wrote that Brody and Solet "made a compact vision of the Man With a Past type thriller and given it more emotional heft than most of its predecessors combined".
References
Buy Clean (2021 film) now from Amazon
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