Happy-Go-lucky

Sally Hawkins shines in her breakout role as the perpetually sunny Poppy, in Mike Leigh’s charming drama about the power of optimism.

Sally Hawkins shines in her breakout role as the perpetually sunny Poppy, a cheerful soul who never seems to stop smiling even when her bicycle is stolen or she’s on the receiving end of racist rants from her driving instructor Scott (Eddie Marsan).

British cinema’s stalwart Mike Leigh confounded the popular perception that he’s obsessed with gritty dramatics by fore-fronting such a carefree character in this film. But his Oscar-nominated script certainly doesn’t present Poppy as a cliché; she’s a well-rounded character who turns out to be more complex and less naïve than we initially presume. The cleverness of Leigh’s film is that the more time we spend in Poppy’s company, the more we find ourselves challenging our own presumptions about the values of optimism.