Louis Vuitton Hawaii International FIlm Festival 2008

Mike Leigh defies all expectation with this sparkling film about the relentlessly cheerful Poppy, a London teacher whose boundless optimism protects her from the darker things in life. Overly effervescent at first, Poppy's spritely, joking, bounding way becomes increasingly endearing as she prevails through a series of uproarious encounters with her bigoted, uptight driving instructor, parties with her housemate and best friend Zoe and plots the rescue of a troubled little boy. Sally Hawkins positively shimmers in a performance that occupies every frame and won her Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival. While Leigh continues to root things in a palpable and at times troubling reality, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY exhibits a new kind of playfulness, the director firmly in cahoots with the sunny lead character in his determination to do things. --Australian Premiere