Happy-Go-Lucky

Rating

Director

Mike Leigh

Screenplay

Mike Leigh

Length

118 min.

Starring

Sally Hawkins, Alexis Zegerman, Eddie Marsan, Samuel Roukin, Karina Fernandez

MPAA Rating

R for language.

Review

Anchored by dazzling performances, Mike Leigh’s latest small ensemble film, Happy-Go-Lucky, takes the audience on a crazy journey through the life of an extraordinarily and often oddly happy woman.

Sally Hawkins has been working in motion pictures for only a short time (her first credited appearance was in Post back in 2002), but has managed to amass a solid resume of films and TV movies (21 to date). But, it’s her star-making performance in Leigh’s movie that should thrust her into more varied roles. Here, she plays Poppy, a young British woman who looks at life through her own brand of rose-tinted glasses. Everything is a punchline to her and her raucous joy and unparalleled spirit are entirely at odds with the people around her.

She’s a school teacher who matches the exuberance of her pupils while tempering her emotions with healthy doses of realism, portrayed by her best friend, and fellow teacher, Zoe (Alexis Zegerman).

When she randomly decides it’s time she started learning to drive, spending the opening title sequence riding through the city on her bicycle, she picks up lessons from a grumpy, by-the-book instructor named Scott (Eddie Marsan). Constantly yelling at her to keep her hands at 10 and 2, keep her eyes on the mirror and to stop wearing non-sensible shoes to drive, her patience begins to wear thin rather quickly and only in his presence does she begin to snap out of her happy-go-lucky attitude, but always returning to it.

The film doesn’t really establish her reason for being, nor why she has developed such an outlook on life. We are just expected to believe Poppy is who she is and that her views on life can enliven the lives of those around her. Not only does the film not seem to have any traditional introduction; it also lacks a satisfying conclusion, tapering off into the closing credits without a suitable resolution.

Unlike Leigh’s Best Picture-nominated film Secrets & Lies, the film feels truncated and abrupt. And that abruptness only helps you realize how involving the film really is. Clocking in at nearly two hours, I was surprised at how quickly the film went despite a few sections where I actively wondered if the entire thing would be over soon.

Hawkins is certainly a discovery. Her performance is outlandish and brazen while being engaging and infectious. Matching her quite well, Marsan delivers an outstanding, if sometimes taxing, performance. Together, their scenes are what make Mike Leigh such an interesting screenwriter. Often allowing his actors to ad lib, the script acting more as a framework than as a strict source, Leigh gives his stars the ability to take their characters to the extreme as long as it serves the story and here, that style suits the film well.

Happy-Go-Lucky isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and there will be more than a few who find the performances grating and the story lackluster, but even some who are exceedingly well grounded or strict in their perceptions of things around them can find something to love and celebrate in the film.

Review Written

February 4, 2009