HAPPY-GO-LUCKY |
Polly Cross is quite possibly London's happiest woman. But can she deal with life's trials and opportunities head-on without loosing her optimism? | score 4 |
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Cast Sally Hawkins, Alexis Zegerman, Kate O'Flyn, Eddie Marsan, Samuel Roukin Director Mike Leigh Screenwriter Mike Leigh Country UK Rating / Running Time M / 118 minutes Australian Release June 2008 Official Site (c) moviereview
2006-2008
ABN 72 775 390 361 |
Poppy
Cross (Hawkins) likes to make people happy. Not as a jolly blend of
Maria von Trapp and Mother Theresa, but in a wilfully sunny manner that
seeks out the shiny side of life. When her bicycle is stolen in the
opening credits she laughs it off, , and is put out only because she
didn’t have a chance to say goodbye. Perhaps walking will do her
good. Bless. Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky is as the title suggests, a delightful comedy of mannerisms that digs into society’s responses to the terminally cheerful. It’s a study that also plays out on audience expectation; such is Leigh’s body of work that one is expecting calamity around every corner. The cloud behind this silver lining is felt most when Poppy, a recent student of driving, presses all of her over-wrought instructor’s buttons. Scott has anger management issues that are squeezed to bursting under Poppy’s carefree disposition. “It’s not easy being you is it?” she says after a particularly rabid tantrum about the disease of multiculturalism. Yet carefree is not to be confused with care-less. Leigh reveals a multifaceted character whose purposeful outlook marks a jumping off point to examine the intransigent negativity of urban dwellers. Poppy’s late-night encounter with a tramp is a scene of complex beauty, more eloquent though just as telling as a fraught scene with her tyrannical, pregnant sister. Supported by her closest friend Zoe (Zegerman), Poppy is an utterly joyful and thoroughly infectious character. She’s a latter day David who tackles towering misery with a quick laugh and deprecating wit, felling unhappiness wherever it stands. Not that Zoe is entirely convinced – “are you happy?” she asks with concern. It’s a good question - can anyone be this joyful without medication? And that question, is exactly Leigh’s point. // COLIN FRASER |