Written & Directed by: Mike Leigh
Soooo everytime we would go to Angelika we saw a preview for Happy Go Lucky (did i write a review for Loins of Punjab Presents??? it was the funniest movie this year. plain and simple.) anyway, it looked cute and perky and there was a Lily Allen song playing and a happy little British chick rode around on a bike and made fun of her boob lifts.
We meet Poppy (Sally Hawkins), the "happy-go-lucky" elementary school teacher. She's 30, and lives with her flatmate Zoe (Alexis Zergerman) who is also a teacher. They work during the week and party really hard on the weekends. Poppy is a sweet lady who really cares about the well being of others.
That's really all the movie is about. Poppy and her interaction with other people who dont share quite the same optimistic view on life that she does. She trampolines, and takes flamenco classes, and befriends a psycho driving instructor and a social worker, and all the other random Brits she comes in contact with.
Sally Hawkins isn't unbelievably happy. And the character Poppy is just one of those people who lifts up anyone when they are down, even if she doesn't know you. Sally pulls it off. Some people compare it to Amelie, and i could see the similarities, its just that Amelie was just as cute and likeable, but the movie was also plot driven.
The guy who played Scott (Edide Marsan) was totally creepy and weird but im sure he was supposed to be.
Overall the movie was just ok. I didnt leave wanting to hug strangers, and nothing extremely tragic happened to totally change Poppy's view on the world. But I think it would have been better as a book than a screenplay. It was like bam theres Poppy she wears funky clothes and is super quirky. I was kinda so what about it.
destiny - by Haki Madhubuti
15 years ago
1 comment:
I left the movie with the same feeling of "so what..." I get it that she's infectiously happy and does her best to virally spread her optimism to everyone around her. I mean, she lives her life with a smile, surrounds herself with children, pours herself into family/friendships, and still keeps an open slot to help out strangers. However, if I really looked at the "plot" sequence I would say that the girl-talk session after work and the semi-climax where Poppy confronted her younger sister about whether or not she's really happy with her life blatantly pushed forward a theme for the movie. It seemed like one theme this movie was trying to convey was a defensive statement a lot of "single past the dreaded thirty" women feel they need to incessantly announce to doubters who feel the need to shame them for not being married, with child(ren), living a "traditional" lifestyle. I'm sure there are a lot of women who feel mounting pressure from many areas to conform to a traditional lifestyle, when the times we live in are anything but "traditional." So, Poppy, who is as quirky as a Dr. Seuss character, shows up to tell the world that although i'm not hitting the life-changing milestones as dictated by some archaic social construct, I am still able to find happiness in life. Yea, I feel sad at times, but I don't chose to stay sad... the fluctuations from sadness to happiness comes with the territory of life, and i just choose to keep an optimistic outlook and make those around me happy (hoping it cyclically brings positive energy back to me).
Another great scene was Poppy's interaction with the homeless guy. I think what they were trying to convey with that scene is what can happen to a person who becomes a repository for negativity and never finds an outlet to express it. Dude, seemed like he really saw and experienced some stuff in his life, and he probably did what a lot of men do, and stuffed it away, tucked in his lip, pressed on, and never dealt with the pain he may have suffered with at the time. So, he probably had a melt down at some point and is trying to express it now and can't seem to find the words to say what is going on in his head, hence is mumbling rants followed by a clear question, "You know what I mean?" Another cautionary tale was Scott, who too became a repository for negative energy and ended up creating a fantasy world due to his inability to deal with people socially, and thus lived his life as a hermit... seemed like he was headed in a similar direction as the homeless guy. "Enraha!!!Enraha!!!Enraha!!!" <- I couldn't help myself....lol.
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