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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 04/18/2008 : 23:17:12
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Despite the hype, don't go to Mike Leigh's latest expecting a laugh-fest. Certainly it's upbeat, considering some of his more delicate recent offerings like Vera Drake - but it's not the laugh riot some have suggested.
Don't get me wrong, there are smiles a-plenty, but they grow not from jokes or punchlines, but from the interaction between characters, and from the way life's inevitable vagaries keep popping up like a cold sore. Born from an irritant, the undeniable humor is bittersweet.
Such as when a Flamenco instructor's passionate description of the dance segues subtley and brilliantly into a personal diatribe against a betrayal she cannot forget or forgive. Or when a driving instructor [the ever-surprising Eddie Marsan] completely loses it, spewing out with a degree of madness the attraction he's been suppressing for his pupil Poppy.
Poppy is Leigh's focus, from first shot to last; she's hardly off screen. With a name that well suits her vibrancy and quirkiness, Sally Hawkins portrays her to perfection. She embodies a character we don't often see - anywhere on screen, nevermind in Leigh's films. She oozes optimism and embraces life without being
saccharine or stupid or loopy.
She's great at her job teaching primary school kids, constantly finding ways to offer them creative opportunities and caring solutions. She's a loyal best friend, sharing inventive fun with flat-mate Zoe, and understanding implicitly how to handle her uncomfortable younger sisters.
We come gradually to know her intricies, as we would in real life, bowled over at first by what appears to be her trivialization of the world. Between Leigh and Hawkins, we never stop caring about her, eventually winding up admiring her, if not exactly wanting to trade lives with her.
As with all his best films, Leigh and the actors never allow snippets of ordinary life to slip into soap opera.
Leigh lets his story tell itself, resisting any desire to dominate, yet guiding it as it rolls along. The film opens with Poppy riding her bike through London streets, pedaling almost arbitrarily, eternally curious about the life around her. Everything in the film follows on from that ride.
Where does she fit in? A question that recurs in various forms throughout; the film covers a gamut of learning scenarios. By the end Poppy's closer to an answer, though as it always is, one without certainty.
A musing that is often amusing.
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Salopian 
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 04/19/2008 : 18:24:01
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Happy-Go-Lucky
As it is even less plot-based than many of Mike Leigh's films, it takes a while before one feels one is gaining much over what one has seen in the trailer. However, this is achieved, with the charming success of making an annoying character very likeable. My favourite bit is when Poppy comments on the sky being beautiful at a particular moment. Now, I love the sky both aesthetically and conceptually, but the perfect thing about this remark is that the sky in question is as bog standard as one can imagine.
"Poppyanna." Might (or might not) come down in time, but a low 5/5 at present. |
Edited by - Salopian on 04/19/2008 18:26:12 |
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randall
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 10/10/2008 : 22:44:02
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I couldn't believe it was by Mike Leigh! But there the filmmaker sat on stage after the NYFF screening, with his brilliant star Sally Hawkins at his side. She plays an ebullient optimist who pirouettes through life with the most adorable attitude you've ever seen. So adorable that you just KNOW something's going to arrive to mash her down, since this is Leigh, after all. You're on pins and needles the whole time. Does this, in fact, happen? Aw, you're expecting me to spoil this one, aren't you?
Leigh works by leading tons of improvisatory sessions with his actors, which are then folded into a fairly rigid script, so he gets a level of faux-reality while still being able to shoot on a budget. Best of both worlds. Hawkins rocks. I was in love with her within five minutes, after her reaction to a bicycle thief [hmmm....], and I never fell out of love.
In fact, I loved this whole film. To say much more would be to spoil the experience for you. |
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Happy-Go-Lucky
