Happy Go Lucky

[London_Calling]

*bump*


I saw this again last night. Still delightful. It really is a strong piece of work with a wonderful performance at its heart.

I'm not saying its remarkably original but the revealing of Poppy's emotional strenghts and core beliefs is well paced. It semmed to have quite a lot to say about moderm feminism, or is it post feminism, or next wave feminism . . .

Still not sure about the sightly contrived contrast between the bullying schoolboy and the bullied (at school) driving instructor.

People like Poppy - of which there are very many - are the heroes of this age, is perhaps the final message. Or not.

 

[London_Calling]

Looking at the Wiki article on her I see Sally Hawkins is lined up for "The Roaring Girl, in which she will play Bernadette Devlin."

She also went to JAGS, which will be familiar to sarf Londoners.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Hawkins

 

[contadino]

I've seen the film twice now, because the first time I didn't really understand it at all (and the tramp scene shook me up a bit.)

Having considered it a bit since, I think it's about how people with a certain (generous, happy go lucky) outlook on life can deal with a helluva lot more shite than people who allow themselves to get weighted down by it. If you look at all the aspects of her life, there are issues (kid bullying at work, nutty driving instructor, even the dance teacher was teetering on the edge.) Only a few things get resolved in the end, but she's still bouncing along, happy-go-luckily.

As to whether people like her exist in real life, I'd say she's a bit of a caricature. I've known a fair few people who are indomitably happy, but none to the extent that she is.

I'm not sure whether that's what Mike Leigh set out to, or whether he set out to make any points at all, but that's what I took away from the film. Like most Mike Leigh films, I found myself smiling, rather than laughing, through the majority of the film.

 

[scumbalina]

Love it. So much so that I taught our daughter to make a triangle shape with her hands on the command En Rah Hah.

 

[Badgers]

Although with Mike Leigh having made my wife breakfast I should not really be a fan of his

 

[Reno]

Although with Mike Leigh having made my wife breakfast I should not really be a fan of his

Did he burn the bacon ?

 

[Badgers]

Did he burn the bacon ?

 

[oryx]

Bump. I saw this tonight after we recorded it when it was on TV a few months back.

I thought it was abysmal - badly scripted and directionless, and the lead character was not only highly irritating but really badly acted.

Its only redeeming features were Zoe the flatmate (as someone said earlier) and that it was nicely shot.

Oh, and that we didn't waste £26.50 or whatever to see it at the cinema........

 

[Steel Icarus]

All Leigh films has inappropriate scores like that

I love Meantime so very, very much but the music, although appropriately miserable, is a touch annoying after the first five or six times of viewing.

Which reminds me, I need to buy Naked on DVD. My tape copy wore out...

 

[London_Calling]

While it's bumped . . . . I read a while back that, according to notstarring.com, Sally Hawkins turned down the lead female role in Titanic. No idea if it's correct . . .

 

[Nanker Phelge]

badly scripted and directionless....

He tends to work fairly scriptless and directionless.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

While it's bumped . . . . I read a while back that, according to notstarring.com, Sally Hawkins turned down the lead female role in Titanic. No idea if it's correct . . .

I once read that there were fleets of ships and light aircraft up Joan Crawford's cunt. Turns out it was a joke.

 

[oryx]

He tends to work fairly scriptless and directionless.

I knew that - I suppose sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

 

[metalguru]

Yeah - I disliked it whilst I was watching it....but to give the film some credit it does stay with you afterwards.

I think the Sally Hawkins character is actually psychotic - the mirror image of David Thewlis's over the top negative character in Naked. And she deliberately winds the driving instructor up.

Maybe I was bored, but I also found the Zoe flatmate character very atttractive, and also the dance teacher I think. The social worker on the other hand - a walking cliche that I wanted to kick in the bollocks.

 

[London_Calling]

I knew that - I suppose sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

That must be it, of course.

oryx - what are your fav Mike Leigh films?

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I knew that - I suppose sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

It worked in terms of mood, and character. the Story was was flimsy and flawed. I left the cinema feeling quite good and I'd enjoyed the film. A second viewing showed up a lot of the plot failings.

I know a driving instructor who was horrified by the Driving Instructer, insisting he just wouldn't be allowed to practice. My view is that no woman with half a brain would continue to take lessons alone with a person like that.

There are a lot of characters on the edge of madness in london practicing proffesionally across various 'careers'.

I'm a Mike Leigh fan from a very early age having fallen in love with Jane Horrocks in Life is Sweet and being mesmerised by David Thewlis in Naked, so I'm pretty forgiving of anything he does.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

The social worker on the other hand - a walking cliche that I wanted to kick in the bollocks.

Yep - tosspot.

I was going 'Don't go with him, he's a square jawed liberal and he'll end up cheating on you when he's out with his mates watching rugby or something equally boring!!!!!!

 

[madzone]

I'm also a Mike Leigh fan but the female lead in this irritated the blue bejesus outta me. Totally overacted.

 

[Part 2]

I've got a happy go lucky in my office. She's among the most irritating people I've ever met.

 

[London_Calling]

I think the Sally Hawkins character is actually psychotic - the mirror image of David Thewlis's over the top negative character in Naked. And she deliberately winds the driving instructor up.

I thought it was just the defence mechanism most people have - some are grumpy, some non-communicative, etc.

The character seemed hugely strong and grounded to me. Maybe a kind of post-Feminism feminist. The male characters less so . . .

 

[Miss-Shelf]

I loved the film but nobody goes through life never being upset or sad

I used to work with a lovely woman who does give out a lovely vibe - she laughs a lot and being around her was great - she makes people feel good and was really good at dealing with conflict without blame - she didn't express herself as much as the character of Sally though
It was great to see a female character who followed her desires whilst trying to do good for others along the way

 

[oryx]

oryx - what are your fav Mike Leigh films?

Probably Meantime, Vera Drake or Secrets & Lies.

At the time, I liked Nuts In May, High Hopes and Life Is Sweet.

However, in retrospect, I think Leigh specialises in a kind of over-acted, hysterical female character (think Abigail, think Candace-Marie, think the Jane Horrocks character in Life Is Sweet as well as the kill-in-the-faceable Poppy). IMHO this doesn't sit well with his method of ad libbing and improvisation.

I've a feeling someone else on here might have said this before me as I don't think I'm saying anything especially original here.

 

[madzone]

I think you've got a point that very often Mike Leigh characters are verging on grotesques but there was something inherently unbelievable about this one. Jane Horrocks and Alison Steadman can pitch it just this side of ridiculous but I think that particular actress just slightly overstepped it. Mind you I can't fucking abide overly happy people anyway.

 

[Biddlybee]

Which reminds me, I need to buy Naked on DVD. My tape copy wore out...

Fucking fantastic film. Not seen Thewlis in much though.

 

[oryx]

Mind you I can't fucking abide overly happy people anyway.

My partner's interpretation of Poppy was not dissimilar to metalguru's - that despite her dippy butter-wouldn't-melt-in-the-mouth superficial persona, she was actually quite nasty in the way she wound up Scott the driving instructor.

(And Nanker is right to say that no woman in her right mind would have gone for a second lesson with him!).

 

[kittyP]

Fucking fantastic film. Not seen Thewlis in much though.

He was in Harry Potter recently and I was surprised to see him pop up in the Ridley Scott epic Kingdom of Heaven.

 

[London_Calling]

He's also busy with Anna Friel and their child. Where did it all go wrong?

 

[kittyP]

He's also busy with Anna Friel and their child. Where did it all go wrong?

What's wrong with that?

 

[London_Calling]

Nothing. Nothing at all. At a guess, earning several million pounds hamming it up in the HP franchise and sharing your life with Anna Friel is probably not too bad.