There’s a new Mike Leigh film out and it’s…happy. The director of Naked and Secrets and Lies calls Happy-Go-Lucky “anti-miserabilist”—his mega-dose of joie de vivre. The movie’s heroine, Poppy (Sally Hawkins), is an elementary school teacher who bounds through the lives of her friends, including an ornery driving instructor. The New York Press’ Armond White says Hawkins’ “performance reaches deeply, buoyantly, into private idiosyncrasy—as when [Poppy] spreads her arms, wing-like, before making love.” White says Happy-Go-Lucky is sure to be one of the best films of the year.
Read it at New York Press
