Friday Night Netflix...Happy-Go-Lucky

Enraha...enraha!

This is another great Mike Leigh film.  A simple story about the everyday life of Poppy...an extraordinarily optimistic person living in London present time.  She hangs out with her friends, she drinks, she talks, she laughs. She is a primary school teacher inspiring the imaginations of the kids and everyone around her.  You think that she may just be an annoyingly positive dim-bulb of a girl...only...see that kid in the schoolyard bullying that other child?  Yeah, I want to go over and smack the shit out of him too.  Poppy?  She sees the little boy who needs help.  The bully I mean.  Because, she looked for the good first, and the cause of his anger. Poppy was the first person to notice or care enough about this "bully" to get him some help.  Kind of like her driving instructor...Scott.  Scott is the antithesis of Poppy.  Scott presents her biggest challenge. I mean, he may be insane...or, then again, he may not be.  "Enraha...mirrors, signal, manuever!"   Poppy handles him with the same courage and compassion.

I was afraid that I would be irritated by Poppy.  I had read where people said the character grated on them.  Really? Were these the same people who were not irritated by Juno? I hope not.  Juno was truly irritating.  Poppy makes sense.  It's unfortunate that Poppy didn't give birth at the end of the film, as that would have surely guaranteed Sally Hawkins that Oscar nomination.  What else could it be?  Ellen Page...Juno...nominated.  Sally Hawkins...Poppy...not nominated. Must have been the birthing scene.  

Hawkins was brilliant.  Eddie Marsen as Scott is also brilliant.  The acting is top-knotch all around.  And Writer/Director Mike Leigh is just a genius.  Geen-e-us.   He makes the audience think and question themselves in such a subtle way. At first you think Poppy isn't living in the real world and you judge her for that. Then you realize how much courage she has in maintaining that happy-go-lucky attitude. By the end of the film you begin questioning whether you live in the real world. And it happens so subtly, with no one getting killed, no one getting raped, no one getting blown up.  It's just a slice of life. 

So, more courage, less fear, more joy, less anger...seems like a no-brainer, doesn't it?

Now, if I can spend just one day a week being more like Poppy...well, it's a start.
 

I'm giving Happy-Go-Lucky a B+.  A little gem.