Happy Go Lucky

HAPPY GO LUCKY is the only other film I've seen from Mike Leigh and while I thought he was some down in the dirt cynic, because of NAKED, he's shown me with this picture that he grasps the full spectrum of day to day emotions.

His characters are as quirky as they were in NAKED but it goes to show that a great outlook on life they can be infectiously cheery whereas when cast in a dark light they are obnoxious. Poppy and her friends teach, laugh, and never let anything get them down. Isn't that great? Everyone else is repulsed by their unfaltering joy and yet they smile and move on. What a gift, I can't think of any talent more gracious than that.

The only character that seems to have bled in from the depths of darkness is Scott the driving instructor, who is filled with so much rage, that we resign in belief that it's too late for him. If only he'd had a social worker when he was a kid. O, there's a scene where a social worker, who Poppy fancies, helps out a troubled kid. Nice way of hinting at trouble at home being the reason for our unhappiness there, eh, Mike Leigh?

The whole flick is like if a chick Inspector Clousaeau stumbled out of fantasy land and into the world of angry, troubled, unhappy people. HAPPY GO LUCKY wonders how someone so "up" sees us. Do they pity our anger? Does it get them down? What the hell is all of this about anyway? In Poppy's case, she takes it as she comes and understands, never mind pity- it's too down for her isn't it? You won't find Mike Leigh trying to give you the answer to happiness or why we're so upset. He's only painting a character who will guide us to poke fun at ourselves and hopefully, if she charmed us right, we'll be uplifted.