Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

Director:

Mike Leigh

Writer:

Mike Leigh (writer)

Release Date:

26 September 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Sally Hawkins	...	Poppy
Alexis Zegerman	...	Zoe
Andrea Riseborough	...	Dawn
Samuel Roukin	...	Tim
Sinead Matthews	...	Alice
Kate O'Flynn	...	Suzy
Sarah Niles	...	Tash
Eddie Marsan	...	Scott
Joseph Kloska	...	Suzy's friend
Sylvestra Le Touzel	...	Heather
Elliot Cowan	...	Bookseller
Nonso Anozie	...	Ezra
Trevor Cooper	...	Patient
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Philip Arditti	...	Flamenco Student
Karina Fernandez	...	Flamenco - Spanish Dance Teacher
Tim Glanfield	...	Man in Pub
Oliver Maltman	...	Jamie
Rebekah Staton	...	Flamenco Student
Stanley Townsend	...	Tramp

Also Known As:

Untitled Mike Leigh Project (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

Germany:118 min (Berlin International Film Festival)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Ireland:15A

Company:

Film4

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Poppy cycles South of the river over Blackfriars Bridge but gets off in postcode EC1 (shown on a road sign), which is north of the river. A minute later, when she walks into a shop, she's in SE1 -- which is where she should have ended up.

Maybe the world is too much for even the most dedicated optimist?

Some UK critics have been saying that "Happy-Go-Lucky" is the happiest and most cheerful movie that Mike Leigh has ever made. Well, I don't know if I would exactly agree with that. It is and it isn't.

Sally Hawkins' primary school teacher Poppy is, indeed, a very happy individual. Annoyingly happy, insanely cheerful, depressingly optimistic and psychotically 'Up!', most of the time. It is a tribute to Sally Hawkins performance that, once you get past the initial irritation with her, you completely fall in love with Poppy, her goodness, her openness and, yes, her simple niceness.

Then there is Eddie Marsan's driving instructor Scott. Scott is the very antithesis of happy. Scott is rigid, angry, frustrated, impatient, knotted up and racist. A borderline OCD sufferer, who is tortured by who-knows-what in his past. Scott is the most bitter and overwhelming character in a Mike Leigh film since David Thewlis' Johnny in "Naked". It is a towering performance by Eddie Marsan.

If Poppy is the light, Scott is definitely the dark, but it seemed to me that dark shadows inhabit the whole of "Happy-Go-Lucky". The unhappy schoolboy, the glum Sister, the other sister - a social climber who dominates her husband. Little vignettes of irritation and annoyance. Typical Mike Leigh.

"Happy-Go-Lucky" is a really good film, if you stick with it. I liked the way that Poppy does stop smiling towards the end. Maybe the world is too much for even the most dedicated optimist?