The TV Addict 

By Alexander B. Huls, theREELaddict 

(With HAPPY-GO-LUCKY hitting limited theatres today, theREELaddict is reposting the recent Toronto International Film Festival review of the movie.) 

When most people hear a film described as a character study, serious movie buffs usually know to read that as a heads-up that the film (especially one directed by the somber Mike Leigh) is going to be depressing, following some emotionally unsatisfied character who just can’t seem to find happiness in life, love, or work. In an interesting flip, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY is a character study of a person you won’t find depressing at all.

Poppy is the kind of character you almost certainly have bumped into at one point in real life. Little more than a child in a woman’s body, she’s always bubbly and happy, excessively friendly to any and everyone, and seemingly deflates all seriousness around with humor. Her demeanor seems so excessively chipper that we - like we would in real life - not only might find it horribly annoying, but might accuse Poppy of suffering from a crippling bout of delusion or naiveté. After all anyone who finds her bicycle stolen and simply bemoans that she didn’t have a chance to say goodbye, and turns right around to see it as a chance to finally learn how to drive, is at once someone who us members of a generally cynical and unhappy society (though we would disguise that as “realistic” or “pragmatic” society) would question as someone who isn’t living entirely healthy.

Initially, watching Poppy maker her way through the unstructured, slice-of-life narrative structure of the film, you’ll most likely feel her grate on your nerves. You’ll even be tempted to think she’s little more than a superficial caricature, as shallow as her appreciation for the seriousness of life. The delight of watching HAPPY-GO-LUCKY is being proven wrong.

As the movie progresses you’ll find yourself slowly becoming enamored with Poppy and her infinite charm and warmth (”cute” or “adorable” about cover it), largely thanks to Sally Hawkins’ Oscar worthy performance. What’s more you’ll not only come to like Poppy and root for her, you’ll discover there’s more depth to her than you initially suspected. You’ll come to see the method to her madness (or happiness, rather), and even learn to admire it. It’s precisely because of our collective inherent cynicism, and film’s oft tendency to engage itself in people falling prey to life’s darker pockets, that it becomes so appealing to watch Poppy refuse to let herself fall victim to either.

Her cheery approach to the ups and downs that hit her becomes not so much a conscious naiveté, but an almost ideological refusal to let her lifestyle be shaken. Yes, she faces her fare share of hurdles in the film, ones that would unhinge any optimistic person like Poppy, and several which are directly the cause of or a confrontation of her values. And even though she affords them the seriousness they deserve, she ultimately sees them not so much as challenges to her approach to life, but rather affirmations for why she has it in the first place.

HAPPY-GO-LUCKY is certainly Mike Leigh’s most mainstream film to date, and undoubtedly one his sweetest, and most charming ones. What’s so exemplary about it though is that in traditional Hollywood narratives a character starts in one place and ends up in another. They grow, if you will. The lovely thing about the movie is that Poppy never changes - despite what she faces - but we, the audience members, are the ones who change. We just do so in regards to how we feel about her throughout the course of the film. That’s what makes - among other things - HAPPY-GO-LUCKY one of the more rewarding and heart-warming experiences I’ve had at the movies this year. Maybe even a little life-changing, something Poppy would no doubt be tickled to hear.

Overall rating: A-