Happy Go Lucky
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY (15)
D: Mike Leigh
Momentum (Simon Channing-Williams)
UK/US 2008
118 mins
Drama/Comedy
W: Mike Leigh
DP: Dick Pope
Ed: Jim Clark
Mus: Gary Yershon
Sally Hawkins (Poppy Cross), Eddie Marsan (Scott),
Alexis Zegerman (Zoe), Andrea Riseborough (Dawn)
Sally Hawkins eternally positive and kooky performance might
not be to everyone's taste, and her character can be as irritating as it is endearing, but she's the best thing about this movie. Eddie Marsden a close second as her bigoted and
misanthropic driving teacher.
Other than that it's typical Mike Leigh fare, heavy on
improvised dialogue and complex, nuanced characters.
What makes Happy-Go-Lucky not as good as his other works is
that it doesn't tie up all it's loose ends. There's three or four plotlines which develop during the course of the movie and they're all left hanging. It's a shame to take all the gloss off
an otherwise good movie with a naff ending, but it's still a worthy watch and generates a number of feel-good moments.
6/10
