Starring: Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman Director: Mike Leigh Category: IIA Bicycle theft, scowling shopkeepers, hardcore clubbing - these are shown in the first 10 minutes of Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky. But as the film's name indicates, they are not played out to reinforce the gloomy world view which drives most of the British filmmaker's realist work. The film is about a bubbly kindergarten teacher in North London named Poppy Cross, and how she manages with aplomb to deal with problems she encounters at work and in her private life. Oozing positivity in nearly every scene, the film seems intent on showing the strengths of remaining upbeat in a confused world. Its optimism is as intense as the pessimism of Leigh's previous film, Vera Drake, the vexing drama about a clandestine abortionist in a post-war Britain that was rebuilding itself through austerity. What makes Happy-Go-Lucky a joyous experience, however, is Leigh's deftness in introducing nuances into a film in which the chirpy protagonist navigates her way through choppy waters with her optimism intact. There's no tragedy awaiting Poppy. The film ends with all the loose ends tied up. She succeeds in nearly every aspect of her life. Rather than smacking of contrivance, the film offers human drama at its best. We see how Poppy engages with people and issues around her with a mix of pragmatism and a childlike, hopeful enthusiasm. Perhaps aware that he is seen as a miserabilist, Leigh takes thinly-veiled digs at public expectations of British realist films in the first few scenes. Browsing at a bookshop with a growling man in charge, Poppy pulls out physicist Roger Penrose's book about the laws of the universe. 'The Road to Reality? Don't want to go in there,' she says with a chuckle. Later, she dances to the tunes of Common People, Pulp's 1995 hit in which Jarvis Cocker attacks cultural tourists who want to 'live like common people' because they think 'poor is cool'. Happy-Go-Lucky eschews irony and shows how realism can be conveyed without invoking cliches of inner-city violence and the like. Poppy does not live in a world devoid of stifling social norms, as her mortgage-embracing, pregnant younger sister Heather does. Nor does she suffer from social malaise of the kind seen in the misanthropic and racist driving teacher Scott (played brilliantly by Eddie Marsan). These characters are menacing throughout, but there is no high-octane melodrama. This is probably why the film's most jarring moment is in the final confrontation between Poppy and Scott. Leigh's trademark dialogue packs candid humour and warmth. But it's the acting that stands out. Sally Hawkins (above) deserves the best actress award she won at Berlin for her role as the real and human Poppy. Alexis Zegerman ably plays her smoking, snarky colleague-flatmate. It might not be as powerful as Leigh's masterpieces about the dark side of humanity, but Happy-Go-Lucky was not meant to follow the trend set by his Naked or Vera Drake. Happy-Go-Lucky opens on Saturday
