Variety reports that Miramax has picked up the next Mike Leigh Joint.
And Eddie Marsan will be in it. Woo hoo!
Full Version: Happy-Go-Lucky
Synopsis!
QUOTE
Happy-Go-Lucky marks a departure for the Salford-born director, as his central character Poppy seems to have a fulfilled life. The first thing we see happen to Poppy is that her bicycle gets stolen. Such events may be a common occurrence on the streets of Camden, north London, where the film is set, but here on the cinema screen it momentarily harks back to Vittorio De Sica's 1948 Italian neo-realist classic The Bicycle Thief – that is, until Poppy shrugs her shoulders and laughs it off, making it clear that, surprisingly, the title of the movie is not ironic.
Sally Hawkins plays Poppy rather like the coyote from the children's cartoon Road Runner. No matter what obstacles are put in her way, she gets right back up and gets on with it. The first impression given of Poppy is that she has been transplanted from some grotesque parallel universe. Hawkins, who is in every scene, tests our desire to side with her character by hamming up her performance and pushing the boundaries of believability. She's a bewildering comic pastiche of a working-class girl and Paris Hilton. She has no sense of responsibility, so it's a surprise when we see her at work... as a primary-school teacher.
Having established such a character, Leigh does something remarkable; he makes us fall in love with Poppy, and at the same time gives us a state-of-the-nation assessment of Britain. The end of the Blair decade has seen a surge of artists and writers focus their attention on contemporary life, and there is no one more qualified in British cinema than Leigh to take a stab at it.
Leigh does this by replacing one of his favourite characters, the taxi-driver, with a driving instructor. Eddie Marsan is brilliant as the raconteur on the woes of modern British life. These are awkward and at times preachy sentiments, encapsulated by a moment in which Marsan orders his pupil to lock the car doors when he sees two black youths on bikes.
Typically, Leigh directs the bleakest scenes for laughs. He uses Poppy's occupation to emphasise the importance of looking after children to ensure they do not grow up with serious hang-ups, but other than that life is shown in the most positive light of any of his pictures.
Sally Hawkins plays Poppy rather like the coyote from the children's cartoon Road Runner. No matter what obstacles are put in her way, she gets right back up and gets on with it. The first impression given of Poppy is that she has been transplanted from some grotesque parallel universe. Hawkins, who is in every scene, tests our desire to side with her character by hamming up her performance and pushing the boundaries of believability. She's a bewildering comic pastiche of a working-class girl and Paris Hilton. She has no sense of responsibility, so it's a surprise when we see her at work... as a primary-school teacher.
Having established such a character, Leigh does something remarkable; he makes us fall in love with Poppy, and at the same time gives us a state-of-the-nation assessment of Britain. The end of the Blair decade has seen a surge of artists and writers focus their attention on contemporary life, and there is no one more qualified in British cinema than Leigh to take a stab at it.
Leigh does this by replacing one of his favourite characters, the taxi-driver, with a driving instructor. Eddie Marsan is brilliant as the raconteur on the woes of modern British life. These are awkward and at times preachy sentiments, encapsulated by a moment in which Marsan orders his pupil to lock the car doors when he sees two black youths on bikes.
Typically, Leigh directs the bleakest scenes for laughs. He uses Poppy's occupation to emphasise the importance of looking after children to ensure they do not grow up with serious hang-ups, but other than that life is shown in the most positive light of any of his pictures.
Michael Sicinski offers an early review halfway down the page here with MAJOR SPOILERS.
I saw the trailer a week or so ago, thought it looked great. I'm really not that familiar with Mike Leigh, though. What film would you recommend first to watch?
SECRETS AND LIES!!
It's one of my all-time favorite films.
It's one of my all-time favorite films.
Jeffrey Wells has an allergic reaction to the "emotional fascism" of the main character.
QUOTE (Jason Panella @ Aug 21 2008, 12:50 AM) 
I saw the trailer a week or so ago, thought it looked great. I'm really not that familiar with Mike Leigh, though. What film would you recommend first to watch?
Then make sure to watch Naked and All or Nothing, all three films must be watched at all costs.
I found it quite enjoyable. Something infectious about Poppy's exuberance. I'm sure some of these scenes would have been fascinating to watch come together in Leigh's method.
Very glad I went into the movie knowing basically nothing about it. The first 15 minutes or so were kind of disorienting, if that's the word, because I wasn't quite sure who these people were or why we were getting to know them ... but then, when you see what jobs they have, and so on, everything falls into place.
It's not often a Mike Leigh film reminds me of a Judd Apatow film, but there was something about this film's depiction of the relationship between maturity, sexual relationships, and best-friendships that reminded me of Superbad. Even though the main character is over a decade older than the kids in that film were.
I also found myself thinking that Mike Leigh has begun to repeat himself, kind of like latter-era Woody Allen. A sequence in which a couple of suburban homeowners show their place off to some guests is reminiscent of Secrets and Lies, as is Poppy's line that she's "ravishing" when she means "hungry". And one of the male characters has a bit of a rant where he suddenly invokes the number "666" as evidence of some kind of conspiracy in the world, not unlike one of David Thewlis's rants in Naked.
I'm not quite sure what to make of these repeated elements, given that Leigh's films have always been advertised as "improvisations" and should therefore not feel like they are all spilling out of the same mind, the way Woody Allen's films do.
It's not often a Mike Leigh film reminds me of a Judd Apatow film, but there was something about this film's depiction of the relationship between maturity, sexual relationships, and best-friendships that reminded me of Superbad. Even though the main character is over a decade older than the kids in that film were.
I also found myself thinking that Mike Leigh has begun to repeat himself, kind of like latter-era Woody Allen. A sequence in which a couple of suburban homeowners show their place off to some guests is reminiscent of Secrets and Lies, as is Poppy's line that she's "ravishing" when she means "hungry". And one of the male characters has a bit of a rant where he suddenly invokes the number "666" as evidence of some kind of conspiracy in the world, not unlike one of David Thewlis's rants in Naked.
I'm not quite sure what to make of these repeated elements, given that Leigh's films have always been advertised as "improvisations" and should therefore not feel like they are all spilling out of the same mind, the way Woody Allen's films do.
Interview with the director here. Actually, I'm glad you guys brought it up, because you reminded me I wanted to put something about that interview on The Point. Thanks!
I have a feeling this film could really grow on me. I just finished writing my review, and I found myself liking the film more and more as I wrote the review. And then, after filing my review, I came across this review in the New York Times, which notes some interesting parallels that had not occurred to me (e.g., "At one point, she takes flamenco lessons . . . , doing her best to hold a pose that the instructor likens to that of an eagle. But grand poses don’t come naturally to Poppy, who, earlier in the story, dresses up like a chicken to the delight of her students. She’s made of humbler stuff, human stuff . . . "), and then I came across this review by my favorite local critic, who knows Just How to describe Poppy (e.g., "a Camden Town gadabout with a Raggedy Ann fashion sense, a ready smile, a Cockney accent, and a penchant for supplying both sides of a conversation when strangers don’t instantly take to her whimsy. She may be a gangly, wild-eyed nutter of sorts, but she’s also a grade-school teacher with passion for her work and good relations with her colleagues and pals . . ."), which I'm afraid is something I barely even tried to do, certainly not to the degree that he does.
There are all sorts of recurring themes in this film -- teachers and students, grown-ups and children, etc. -- and I suspect future viewings will illuminate even more of them.
There are all sorts of recurring themes in this film -- teachers and students, grown-ups and children, etc. -- and I suspect future viewings will illuminate even more of them.
I really enjoyed this film. Sure, Poppy lifts your spirits by just watching her. But the film works because Poppy is a flawed character. She's kind of irresponsible and has some problems with respecting people's personal boundaries. But what this does is make her real and believable. She's not a messenger from the heavens on a mission to give a divine touch to people who desperately need the help of an angel. Instead, she's a goofball whose exuberance makes us love her inspite of ourselves. And there are occasional subtle glimpses in her facial expression of a loneliness that is masked by her smile, of a disappointment that she can't get the rest of the human race to see things the way she does.
I also think that Mike Leigh may have been making a political point in the character of the driving instructor, as someone who represents a kind of closed-minded resistance to the modern world, and would never be happy as long as he can't return to his idea of "Old England."
I also think that Mike Leigh may have been making a political point in the character of the driving instructor, as someone who represents a kind of closed-minded resistance to the modern world, and would never be happy as long as he can't return to his idea of "Old England."
Afraid the film didn't do much for me. I found myself not believing the lead character's constant cheerfulness, and not knowing whether it was the actress or the character who was trying too hard. Hoped that at a certain point we would find out that it was the character, that we would gain insight into what it was in her experience that made her choose such relentless cheerfulness. But alas, no.
H-G-L called forth my inner curmudgeon.
H-G-L called forth my inner curmudgeon.
As soon as the scene with Poppy in a club with Pulp's "Common People" playing, I started seeing Poppy differently. I just can't see Poppy as a figure of actual happiness or joy, and underneath it all she is marked by the stilted way all the personalities in Leigh's universe deal with the terror of life. The scene with the bum sealed the deal for me. We see there that she doesn't actually mind not making sense. She is as solipsist as a barely coherent homeless man.
QUOTE (MLeary @ Nov 24 2008, 08:31 AM)
As soon as the scene with Poppy in a club with Pulp's "Common People" playing, I started seeing Poppy differently. I just can't see Poppy as a figure of actual happiness or joy, and underneath it all she is marked by the stilted way all the personalities in Leigh's universe deal with the terror of life. The scene with the bum sealed the deal for me. We see there that she doesn't actually mind not making sense. She is as solipsist as a barely coherent homeless man.
I'm curious to hear you describe her as solipsist. I haven't seen the film yet, but in an interview on the Filmspotting podcast, Mike Leigh basically said he thinks Poppy is a very positive character. Anyway, it was interesting to hear him talk about the character, in contrast to the reactions of a lot of people to her that I've read.
I like Poppy, from the get-go. But I don't like how the film uses her. The film is too contrived in the characters it opposes to Poppy, the situations she ends up in, and the canny way in which Leigh tries to tell us that Poppy is an authentic figure. The world Leigh constructs for her is as every bit as contrived as the fantasy world created by the girl in the Pulp song, which undercuts all those happy little lessons about joy that Leigh seems intent on. As it turns out, the only time Polly breaks through Leigh's staging to the audience is in the love scene. Otherwise, there is little difference between this film and Naked, which has a lot of the same Leigh world-building, but in the end is more acceptable because its character is off his rocker.
Finally saw this. (The fact that this Mike Leigh fanboy waited until two days ago to see it shows how little time I have these days to see movies.) There's a lot to like in the first three-quarters, but after we see Scott trying to spy (or something) on Poppy, it's all falls apart, with the nadir being Scott's soliloquy analyzing Poppy -- more hand-holding than I think of Leigh ever using in the past. I'm not sure I agree in total with M's statement above that "The film is too contrived in the characters it opposes to Poppy," but in the penultimate scene, in which Scott has finishes his morphing into Poppy's antithesis, M's absolutely right.
I still liked HGL, and I recommend it with reservations, but it's probably my least favorite Leigh since Abigail's Party, some 30 years ago.
Dale
I still liked HGL, and I recommend it with reservations, but it's probably my least favorite Leigh since Abigail's Party, some 30 years ago.
Dale
QUOTE (M. Dale Prins @ Nov 24 2008, 02:03 PM)
I still liked HGL, and I recommend it with reservations, but it's probably my least favorite Leigh since Abigail's Party, some 30 years ago.
I couldn't help but comparing Poppy's constant happiness with the less successful but equally insistent optimism of Cynthia Rose in Secrets and Lies. The narrative in that film is far more like Abagail's Party in that while it is scripted and staged, it takes on a life of its own. Cynthia's optimism is crushed, but re-emerges, fulfilled, later on the scripted dialogue of these two reunited sisters.
The times that Leigh does tinker with the largely improvised world of H-G-L, pretty much through Scott, her optimism turns out to be a curse in terms of narrative structure. She ruined that poor fellow and it is all Leigh's fault. Granted, a mediocre Leigh film is a very good film by anyone else's standards. So despite all the "hand-holding" I would definitely recommend it to someone else.
What are your favorite Leigh films btw? (All Or Nothing over here.)
QUOTE (MLeary @ Nov 24 2008, 01:27 PM)
What are your favorite Leigh films btw? (All Or Nothing over here.)
In approximate order, including only his feature-length films, and with lines indicating larger breaks in percieved quality:
Secrets & Lies
Naked
---
Life is Sweet
Home Sweet Home
Topsy-Turvy
---
Grown-Ups
Vera Drake
All or Nothing
Kiss of Death
Hard Labour
---
Career Girls
Who's Who
High Hopes
Nuts in May
---
Four Days in July
Meantime
Happy-Go-Lucky
Abigail's Party
I haven't seen Bleak Moments, although I own it. My favorite of the shorts is "The Birth of the Goalie of the 2001 FA Final" [YouTube], although I haven't seen them all.
None of these movies, by the way, would receive lower than a B from me -- he's simply that consistently good-to-awesome of a filmmaker.
Dale
Glad there's some Leigh fans here! I thought it was excellent though not his best. I am still amazed at Leigh making a film which is, I feel, very positive. I felt quite ambivalent about Poppy herself, especially early on. I think if I knew her I would find her intensely irritating and irrestistably engaging in equal measures. There's a shallowness to her relentless cheerfulness, but a heart of gold underneath. (By the way, the Canadian critic is wrong to say she has a Cockney accent. London, yes; Cockney, no.)
I know someone who is more like Poppy than anyone i've ever seen on screen. She too is very upbeat and can talk the hind legs off the proverbial donkey (though she doesn't have the annoying giggle), and she has the same compassion for people like the tramp. She would have acted in the same way in that scene as a result of the same impetuous, even foolhardy, warmth.
But she is a fragile character too, hinting perhaps at some vulnerability she has worked at rising above. It even creates insensitivity to certain kinds of people and her inability to deal with Scott comes back and bites her. Scott is, of course, brilliantly awful. The racist, conspiracist, bitter man is all too believable ('Enrahah' is inspired madness - I think it every time I see a learner driver).
Contrary to one or two others who've posted, I didn't feel that any of these characters were unreal. Extreme, maybe, but the world does have extreme characters in it.
I know someone who is more like Poppy than anyone i've ever seen on screen. She too is very upbeat and can talk the hind legs off the proverbial donkey (though she doesn't have the annoying giggle), and she has the same compassion for people like the tramp. She would have acted in the same way in that scene as a result of the same impetuous, even foolhardy, warmth.
But she is a fragile character too, hinting perhaps at some vulnerability she has worked at rising above. It even creates insensitivity to certain kinds of people and her inability to deal with Scott comes back and bites her. Scott is, of course, brilliantly awful. The racist, conspiracist, bitter man is all too believable ('Enrahah' is inspired madness - I think it every time I see a learner driver).
Contrary to one or two others who've posted, I didn't feel that any of these characters were unreal. Extreme, maybe, but the world does have extreme characters in it.
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