Chaotic ebullience vs. the real world in funny, masterful ‘Happy-Go-Lucky'
She could drive a person crazy. Sunny and upbeat to an almost supernatural (if not downright demented) degree, she smiles constantly, cracks jokes compulsively, and greets every situation with a barrage of laughter—even when she finds her bike stolen, or endures a painful visit to the chiropractor. That it’s so worth the effort to discover the endearing heart, humanity and depth beneath this character’s goofball exterior is due to a faultless and funny performance from leading lady Sally Hawkins, and the skill and precision with which veteran British filmmaker Mike Leigh tells her story in his new film, Happy-Go-Lucky.
Hawkins stars as the irrepressible Poppy, a primary school teacher of very young children in a working-class North London suburb. Thirty-year-old Poppy dresses like a ragamuffin in floral prints and stripes, lacy patterned stockings, and high-heel boots, and scarcely seems any more mature than the boisterous little kids in her class (who adore her). She and her longtime flatmate and best pal, Zoe (the deliciously deadpan Alexis Zegerman), another teacher, like to go out dancing and drinking with the girls on Saturday nights, staggering home at dawn to wonder where all the good men are hiding.
Calling Poppy an optimist is like calling an ocean damp. She laughs at everything, zings off one-liners as rapidly as breathing, and never seems to take anything, including herself, very seriously. Game for anything, she loves to bounce around on a trampoline for exercise, and joins a flamenco dancing class with her principal, a divorced single mum. Yet when serious issues intrude into her bubbly worldview, Poppy proves capable of rising to the occasion, particularly in the skill, empathy and compassion with which she intercedes when a little boy in her class becomes violent.
Of course, her chatty demeanor annoys a lot of people, from the bookshop owner so flummoxed, he refuses to speak to her, to the tightly wound driving instructor, Scott (a percolating Eddie Marsan), attempting to teach her to operate a car. The masterful Leigh (Life Is Sweet, Secrets And Lies) sets us up to really feel for poor Scott in their early scenes together, struggling in vain to impose a necessary sense of focus, control, and sobriety over Poppy’s chaotic ebullience behind the wheel.
But as this cheerful, episodic comedy begins to deepen in tiny, subtle ways into something more substantial, Poppy’s relationship to Scott becomes central to the filmmaker’s design. It’s revealed that Poppy has traveled widely, which explains her ease and comfort with pupils, parents, colleagues and friends of all races and cultures. Scott is far more insular; he calls schools “left-brain prisons,” and thinks multiculturalism is a “disease.” That they’re headed for some sort of reckoning creates narrative suspense while Leigh suggests it’s up to each one of us whether we choose to embrace life with tolerance or waste it in fear.
Along the way, there are more than enough comic diversions and thoughtful observations to keep viewers thoroughly engaged. At the pub, teachers deplore the fact that their students spend all their time at home online or with their Play Stations, because their parents are too overworked and stressed to take them outside to play. The flamenco teacher (wonderfully played by Karina Fernandez), rebounding from a bad love affair, coaches her students to stamp their heels to the rallying cry, “My space!” declaring their resilience to the world. (The one sequence that doesn’t quite work is Poppy’s nighttime encounter with a homeless man; it’s a powerful scene, but it doesn’t feel connected to the rest of the story.)
Best of all is the young social worker, Tim (Samuel Roukin) who comes to counsel Poppy’s troubled student. Here’s a fellow exposed to plenty of human cruelty and suffering in his line of work, yet he and Poppy spark because they’re on the same comic wavelength. As is so often the case in Leigh’s best films, the world is woefully imperfect, but choosing courageous acts of love, friendship and connection can make all the difference.
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
***1/2 (out of four)
With Sally Hawkins, Alexis Zegerman, and Eddie Marsan. Written and directed by Mike Leigh. A Miramax release.
Rated R. 114 minutes.
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