Happy-Go-Lucky

Tonight's film is Happy-Go-Lucky (with hyphens), the latest film from Mike Leigh.

Poppy Cross (Sally Hawkins) is thirty and a Primary School teacher working in London. Her approach to life is to not take anything too seriously or preferably not seriously at all. Of course there's nothing wrong in being upbeat but she is annoyingly cheerful, far too 'up' for her own good and it actually makes her into an immensely irritating individual, along with her equally exasperating friends and her sisters. However once you get past your initial annoyance at her, the film grabs you as it contrasts Poppy with the other characters in the film and their different approaches to life.

Her younger sister is very downbeat with exams looming and pulls no punches with her comments. Her other sister has settled down, got married, is pregnant, has a house and a pension but is bitterly jealous of Poppy's freedom. Her fellow teachers have equally dull lives. Her headmaster's weekly highlight is a Flamenco class hosted by a teacher with men issues. Another teacher, Tash is swamped by the demands of her large family.

Despite being supposedly happy with her lot, Poppy has no boyfriend, which is presumably because she's simply unliveable with. Less clear is why her saner flatmate Zoë (Alexis Zegerman) is single.



She also doesn't drive; instead she cycles everywhere. The reason for this, I assume, is because she is incapable of taking anything seriously it makes her un-teachable when it comes to driving. This is proven when, after the theft of her bike, she decides to learn.

Her policy in life seems to be to try and make everyone else happy but that is not a challenge she is set to win when faced with Scott, her practically psychopathic driving instructor (Eddie Marsan). Scott is the exact opposite of happy. He's an angry, frustrated, lunatic of a man tortured by his past. He berates her for wearing heels and for not concentrating. She dangerously pushes her luck too far with him. An oddity in the film is that we are told her driving lessons cost £22.50, yet Poppy always pays in notes and never receives any change. I wonder why she's tipping him?



Her urge to do good and make people happy takes her into some dangerous situations such as when she befriends a homeless man but also reaps dividends when she correctly diagnoses a boy at school who has trouble at home and she calls in a social worker. Bizarrely the social worker asks her out. Seemingly not being satisfied dealing with troubled children he also fancies a go at the not-so-grown-up Poppy.

It all makes for very watchable viewing. There's some great scenes, one of Poppy in colourful tights and a g-string getting her back sorted by a physiotherapist, springs to mind.

Regardless of what happens in her life Poppy never stops smiling. Her attitude, irritating though it can be, is probably a lot better than the approach taken by other people in her life and that’s perhaps the point Mike Leigh is trying to make.

An excellent film.

Son Of Rambow

Tonight, ‘Son Of Rambow’. Set in the early 1980's, somewhere in Hertfordshire, the movie concerns a young boy named Will Proudfoot, who comes from a family hooked on the Plymouth Brethren religion. The Plymouth Brethren reckon they are God's 'chosen ones' and their beliefs keep Will 'sheltered' from music, TV, books and other ills of society. Instead he channels his imagination into doodles on the toilet cubicle wall and elaborate drawings scrawled all over the pages of his bible.

He's not even supposed to mix with 'ordinary' folks but as he's at a normal comprehensive school this is inevitable. This is how his oppressive little world collides with the totally extraordinary one of Lee Carter, the school tearaway, amateur bootlegger and filmmaker. When Lee ‘saves’ Will from punishment at school, he manipulates him into being his stuntman for a film he plans to enter in the BBC Screen Test competition. You remember Screen Test don’t you? Michael Rodd and all that. It ran for years until it was axed in 1984 after it was entrusted to Mark Curry. The prize for winning the young filmmakers' competition was usually a movie camera. I remember wanting to send a film in myself but the problem was no one I knew had a camera and the only way of getting one seemed to be to win one on Screen Test but first I needed a camera... so it never happened.

The two boys are similar in some ways, both lack positive influences at home. Will’s died whilst mowing the lawn and his mother is... well... Plymouth Brethren. Lee has no parents at home at all, his mother seems to be permanently abroad, he lives with and seems to look after his elder brother, bizarrely in a care home for elderly folks that they own. One of the patients turns out to be Eric Sykes.

In other ways the boys are polar opposites, yet they form an unlikely friendship. One moment at Lee's house, changes Will's view on life forever. He gets to see a pirated copy of 'First Blood' on the forbidden television and suddenly there is something to channel his imagination into. The boys set about a remake of sorts of 'First Blood' which they call 'Son Of Rambow'. Will turns out to be practically indestructible as, in his role as stuntman, he tumbles from trees, gets catapulted through the air, and swings from a rope into a lake, even though he can’t swim.



They get on great until a French exchange student called Didier appears on the scene. He, along with his entourage of English pupils, muscles in on the film and everything goes pear-shaped. The film dwells too much on Didier where the main interest is really Lee and Will but despite that flaw we still get a terrific offbeat story of growing up and discovering friendship via rebellion. It’s all terribly predictable but that doesn't matter at all.



It's funny but not slapstick, it even made me laugh. It's touching but not overly sentimental. It’s light entertainment but also has some more serious subplots. Indoctrinated child escapes from psychological bullying by religious group?

It's also a great chance for anyone who grew up in the 80's to do a bit of reminiscing. There's loads of great period detail with new wave fashion, music and some superbly exaggerated stereotypes. Then there's the excellent flying 'guide dogs for the blind' Labrador-shaped charity box. Remember those?

There are also some wonderfully irresponsible messages in there, such as the impression that you can light a cigarette by connecting yourself and your friends to the mains electricity. Don't try that at home kids.

On top of that all the performances are excellent, especially those by all the children. 'Skill on toast' as they said in them days.