The gritty indie revenge thriller “Clean” is clearly a labor of love for Adrien Brody. Not only does he star, as a garbage man who goes by the moniker Clean, but he also produced the film, composed the score, contributed original music and makes his feature screenwriting debut, as a co-writer on the screenplay with director Paul Solet.
Clean lives and works in a blighted upstate New York town, where homes stand empty and criminal organizations run the streets. He’s struggling with his past, tormented by nightmares, and so he puts his head down and goes to work, picking up the trash, attending recovery meetings and trying his best to do what he can around town, painting over graffiti on abandoned buildings, offering rides and meals to a young teenage girl, Dianda (Chandler Ari DuPont), who clearly reminds him of the young daughter who haunts his memories.
Often his flashbacks are violent and blood-spattered, and the film gives Clean away too, as he hungrily eyes pump-action shotguns in the pawn shop, and kicks closed mysterious cases when Dianda goes snooping in his place. Clean has a violent past, and a violent nature that he’s barely keeping at bay. Like many an action hero of the past few years, he’s a man with a very specific set of skills who just might snap when someone steals his puppy, or his kitty-cat bracelet, or his daughter (figure).
