Happy-Go-Lucky (2007)
Country: GB/US
Technical: DeLuxe/scope 118m
Director: Mike Leigh
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman
Synopsis:
A primary teacher in London is single and happy with her existence, living with her long-term flatmate. The theft of her bicycle prompts her to begin driving lessons, but her instructor turns out to be an angry misanthrope with paranoid tendencies.
Review:
Leigh's investigation into personality clash has the merest thread of an intrigue, and some of the topical deferences to social realism are archly put across, but the central antagonistic relationship keeps one guessing and is meaty enough to make an impact. Ultimately it is Poppy's sunny, if typically Mike Leigh 'quirky-jerky', optimism that provides the antidote to so many angry depressives (not just Scott in this film, but Thewlis in Naked, the daughter in Secrets and Lies, Keith in Nuts in May and so many others). In that sense, even though she finds more than her match in Scott's vitriolic driving instructor, this remains Leigh's most uplifting and life-affirming film.
Country: GB/US
Technical: DeLuxe/scope 118m
Director: Mike Leigh
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman
Synopsis:
A primary teacher in London is single and happy with her existence, living with her long-term flatmate. The theft of her bicycle prompts her to begin driving lessons, but her instructor turns out to be an angry misanthrope with paranoid tendencies.
Review:
Leigh's investigation into personality clash has the merest thread of an intrigue, and some of the topical deferences to social realism are archly put across, but the central antagonistic relationship keeps one guessing and is meaty enough to make an impact. Ultimately it is Poppy's sunny, if typically Mike Leigh 'quirky-jerky', optimism that provides the antidote to so many angry depressives (not just Scott in this film, but Thewlis in Naked, the daughter in Secrets and Lies, Keith in Nuts in May and so many others). In that sense, even though she finds more than her match in Scott's vitriolic driving instructor, this remains Leigh's most uplifting and life-affirming film.
Country: GB/US
Technical: DeLuxe/scope 118m
Director: Mike Leigh
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman
Synopsis:
A primary teacher in London is single and happy with her existence, living with her long-term flatmate. The theft of her bicycle prompts her to begin driving lessons, but her instructor turns out to be an angry misanthrope with paranoid tendencies.
Review:
Leigh's investigation into personality clash has the merest thread of an intrigue, and some of the topical deferences to social realism are archly put across, but the central antagonistic relationship keeps one guessing and is meaty enough to make an impact. Ultimately it is Poppy's sunny, if typically Mike Leigh 'quirky-jerky', optimism that provides the antidote to so many angry depressives (not just Scott in this film, but Thewlis in Naked, the daughter in Secrets and Lies, Keith in Nuts in May and so many others). In that sense, even though she finds more than her match in Scott's vitriolic driving instructor, this remains Leigh's most uplifting and life-affirming film.