An optimistic tale from Mike Leigh of all people. This is one of those films in which everything comes gloriously together. It is impossible to imagine it without Sally Hawkins. This is one case in which actress and character merge into one spectacular creation. In fact Sally Hawkins in Happy Go Lucky and Melissa Leo in Frozen River are the two best female performances I've seen in a long, long time. Sally Hawkins's Poppy is a teacher a wise, compassionate, strong, extraordinary teacher. She seems totally unaware of it but we are not. All she knows is that she loves her job. That feeling, if true, can be very contagious. We fall for her not because some kind of gimmick but because her truth precedes her and we learn to know her and respect her almost immediately. As if this wasn't enough, she's very, very, funny.
Review of Happy-Go-Lucky
