Post by BIGFANBOY on Nov 7, 2008 2:54:53 GMT -5
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
Review by Gary Dean Murray
There are moments in the cinema when you know you are witnessing something wonderful, a moment that will be remembered by those who love movies. Such is when Sally Hawkins takes center stage in the slice of life flick Happy-Go-Lucky. This is easily the biggest breakout performance of 2008.
Sally plays Poppy; our happy go lucky London gal. She is a simple soul who is always looking on the sunny side of the street. Poppy’s path is changed when her bicycle is stolen. Instead of being mad, she shrugs it off by saying that she never got a chance to say goodbye. This is definitely a young woman who is never phased by the downturns of life. She decides to take driving lessons from Scott (Eddie Marsan) a very uptight driving instructor. He runs his car more along the lines of the drill instructor shouting orders. His world is about mirrors as he goes over the rules of driving. Coming off as more than a little bitter, he is the opposite of Poppy. Where Poppy sees the glass as half full, Scott sees the glass as ‘who took my stuff’.
Poppy shares her life with a flat-mate and they teach art to kids during the day and go dancing at night. The existence comes across as more of a party, where every joyous day bleeds into the next one. Poppy has a younger sister who is expecting a child. This younger sibling seems just a bit dour about leaping past her older sister, bringing about the next generation into the world. Poppy is just happy about being a part of everything. She is also taking flamenco lessons from an instructor who commands the floor, much to the amusement of Poppy. All this leads to a slight confrontation between Scott and Poppy as he misinterprets her attitude as flirting.
If one thinks that there isn’t much of a plot here, you’d be right. It is more of a slice of life flick where not much is learned by the characters and nothing resolved. More like a weekend visit to a distant friend than an examination of life, Happy-Go-Lucky follows the Napoleon Dynamite school of filmmaking where nothing happening is more than a bit all right. Everything just exists here but without ramifications.
Mike Leigh, the creative force behind Vera Drake and Secrets & Lies gives us a great character in Poppy, he just doesn’t give us a story around her. The most interesting scenes are the ones between Scott and Poppy, but they never build into anything but a creepy encounter between two people who are never on the same wavelength. The film never finds a story, just characters.
But praises have to go to Eddie Marsan. This may be a bit of a one-note performance, but it is a perfect pitch on the tone. He finds an obtuse center in Scott the driving instructor, always finding fault with everyone but still wanting to be anyone but himself. He always insists that he is a good driving instructor almost to the point where he seems to be trying to convince himself that his actions are true and just. He is another lost soul working on finding a place in this misunderstood world.
In a few ways this film reminded me of June Bug but not in tone or in content. It was the film that burst Amy Adams onto her road to stardom. Happy-Go-Lucky, with a little luck, will be the film where the world finds Sally Hawkins. The movie is just okay, but the performance is one of the biggest surprises to come out of England in years.
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