Happy Go Lucky – Almost…

At the time I saw it, Happy Go Lucky (the new Mike Leigh movie) had been running in my local arthouse cinema for well over a week, and the place was still packed out.

That’s good news if you’re me – as Happy Go Lucky is exactly the sort of movie I’d like to see a lot more of. Small scale, a very human story, some shimmering, elusive performances, strong roots in the real world – and the kind of bittersweet love for people, even the messed up ones, (especially the messed up ones) that works very well to counter the empty sugar highs and total violence that will no doubt dominate in the majority of the other big summer releases.

OK. So why didn’t it work?

Sally Hawkins was unfathomably good as Poppy, the strange child-woman who grows up just a little. In one immence perfomance she was annoyingly chirpy, insanely optimistic, surprisingly powerful, totally adorable, gratingly silly, empathetic and surprisingly brave.

Eddie Marsan gave her a good run for her money as the convoluted, deeply unhappy Scott, even though ‘Scott’ as a concept was just one step too self-consciously a ‘character’ for me. Alexis Zegerman is quietly, unflamboyantly wonderful as the best friend – and I was extremely happy to see Sinead Matthews on screen too.

Sinead was absolutely fantastic when she played the deranged nanny in my own Trial and Retribution. and I just wanted her to get more screen time in this one. She’s definitely one to watch.

OK. So really, why didn’t it (quite) work?

Well, I loved the subtlety, the delightful meanders, and the light touch throughout. Yet I never managed to submerge myself in the experience. The friend I went with was sobbing by the end, for reasons she wouldn’t – or couldn’t explain – yet I remained just one step from involved, continually more aware of the technique, and the story choices, than I would have hoped.

I think one reason for that could have been the lack of the usual writing process.

Mike Leigh is one of the last people you would expect to follow conventional ideas of movie structure. His creative process is famous – months of rehearsals and workshops with the actors to discover their characters, then the introduction of the characters to each other and the improvisations, then the final decisions about the story very shortly before fiming starts.

Sounds great, but I’ve always felt this tendency can lead to character heavy, slightly disconnected, even slightly random, scripts – and I felt this was true here.

There was a lot of material that floated on the edges of the story, almost disconnected from the central narrative drive. I can’t help wondering what the movie would have been like had the flamenco sequence, and the tramp sequence, and the visit to the sister in law sequence, among others, been woven more strongly into a more direct, *very* slightly more conventional narrative, where the emotional content of those sequences had been bound more directly to a narrative thrust that was leading us through the story instead of allowing us to drift.

Small things, in the end. Probably more my problem than the movie’s.

Happy Go Lucky is simple, poignant, and beautiful. When you need an antidote to CGI and multiple fantasy deaths I strongly recommend you track it down.

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Tagged as: Alexis Zegerman, creating character, Curriculum Vitae, Eddie Marsan, film structure, Happy Go Lucky, improvisation, Lynda la Plante, Mike Leigh, movie structure, narrative structure, Sallry Hawkins, Sinead Matthews, Story structure, Trial and Retribution