Another Slice of Life from Mike Leigh

On Saturday, I saw the new Mike Leigh movie Happy-Go-Lucky. It was another one of his slice of life movies. As in his other plot-free films, the success of Happy-Go-Lucky hinges on the fantastic actors. It's so refreshing when performances remind me of actual people I know, instead of characters in other movies.

Poppy, played by Sally Hawkins, is an effervescent quirky young woman living in the big city (This movie makes me sad I've never been to London.), but she is no Amelie. Unlike other plucky and eccentric female characters we meet in art house films, Poppy is more than some nerd's dream girl. She represents the real optimist's struggle to inject humor and compassion into life, in spite of the clenched fists that surround her.