Rama’s SCREEN

Is being nice and all happy contagious, that’s the idea of it all, isn’t it?! But what if everybody around you returns the favor by being otherwise, which is resentful, rude, and a bit envious of what you got that they don’t seem to understand?! HAPPY GO LUCKY is a movie that… will already test your patience since the start of the movie mainly because the character Poppy’s mannerism and her laugh hand her peculiar way of responding to everything and everyone. But as the movie progresses, it clearly shows that maybe to have her attitude is the best way to look at the world and go through this hardship called life.

Sally Hawkins stars as Poppy, an irrepressibly free-spirited school teacher who brings an infectious laugh and an unsinkable sense of optimism to every situation she encounters, offering us a touching, truthful and deeply life-affirming exploration of one of the most mysterious and often the most elusive of all human qualities: happiness. Poppy’s ability to maintain her perspective is tested as the story begins and her commuter bike is stolen. However, she enthusiastically signs up for driving lessons with Scott (Eddie Marsan), who turns out to be her nemesis – a fuming, uptight cynic. As the tension of their weekly lessons builds, Poppy encounters even more challenges to her positive state of mind: a fiery flamenco instructor, her bitter pregnant sister, a troubled homeless man and a young bully in her class, not to mention that she has also thrown out her back. How this affects not only Poppy’s world view but also the outlook of those around her begs the question “glass half full or half empty”?

Director Mike Leigh who’s known for directing ‘heavy’ stuff like Secrets & Lies and Vera Drake gives us a lighter load to enjoy as viewers. But of course, I wouldn’t categorize this as Dramedy if it doesn’t have a dramatic element to it.
But first, I just wanna say that I really absolutely enjoy the comedy aspect of this movie. The humor is fast, witty, the dialogue is rapid but understandable so you catch some of the jokes and they are actually funny.
I give credits to the main actress Sally Hawkins who plays Poppy. She’s full of energy and life, it’s as if nothing could ever down her at all.

She’s the kind of person who would smile to a complete stranger, would go the distance to make the people around her happy and always sees good in people.
The character Scott the driving instructor, played brilliantly by the talented Eddie Marsan, is the complete opposite, he only sees the bad in people resulting in him being racist, paranoid and jealous.
His idea of happiness is that if everybody around him follow what he thinks would be right and by that I mean only his rules apply. He’s determined that if you take life lightly and happily like Poppy, then you’d get crushed and disappointed and mocked.

Those of you who might be uptight might think that Poppy is childish, immature, and tries to avoid the problems of life. On the contrary, Mike Leigh through his script and his storyline tries to explain to us that the character Poppy though happy and go lucky that she is,.. she’s still aware of the hungry homeless on the street, the angry kid in her class who’s been abused by his mom’s new boyfriend, and the fact that Scott is having a personal problem.
Her niceness is not a defense mechanism, it’s actually her way of dealing with the problems at hand. Because she’s nice, she becomes hopeful that things are going to be all right.
Yes there are troubles in the world and they make everybody sad but staying sad and beaten down and bitter about it will only cause you to run away even further, and if you contain that anger and hatred inside, your temper will explode as in the case of the character Scott.
Life’s a pain already as it is, why make it worse by being a pain in the ass?!

HAPPY GO LUCKY is a little movie that doesn’t try too hard to inspire but makes you wanna reconsider how you perceive and approach your life and to feel a bit blessed for what you already got and not focus so much on what you don’t have.. yet.

* Place the cursor on the image below to check my grade for this film