Happy-Go-Lucky

Written and directed by Mike Leigh (Vera Drake), starring Sally Hawkins, Alexis Zegerman and Eddie Marsan.

Poppy was a happy-go-lucky girl. The thirty year old woman lived with her flatmate and best friend Zoe, worked as a primary school teacher and was just a genuinely kind woman who tried to infect happiness into everyone around her with cheerfulness. The film took us along this optimistic woman's encounters with a troubled driving instructor, a social worker, a homeless man, an overly expressive flamenco teacher.. all happened with her still behaving like there's no worries in the world.

At first I thought, what an obnoxious woman, with the character Poppy always cracking jokes, smiling, laughing at just about anything. But as the film rolled on, we came to understand that this woman was real, genuine and not superficial at all. We were able to see how humane she was and how she just wanted to brighten up people's days. Sally Hawkins played Poppy really well, it sure couldn't have been easy to play an overly happy person without looking like a lunatic. Poppy's relationship with her driving instructor, Scott, gradually turned into something unexpected and it was just heartbreaking to see it unravel as time went by. Initially it seemed like the film was just about how happy Poppy was, but it went much deeper and by the time it ended, Poppy would be an unforgettable character.

8 / 10.