Mike Leigh may not have a history of being a “happy go-lucky” director, but he is one of my favorite directors. His films, like Vera Drake, All or Nothing and Naked, usually take a look at a more dour side of life. Imagine my (and the film community at large’s) surprise when Mike Leigh showed up at the Berlin Film Festival this year with a film called Happy Go-Lucky.
The story of Leigh’s film revolves around Poppy, a primary schoolteacher with a positive outlook on life and
While it is a comedy, the film had a serious intent and expressed something “very important”, he (Leigh) said. “At the beginning of the 21st century, when we’re in a world that’s heading towards disaster, it’s important to reject the growing fashion to be miserabilist, the growing fashion to be pessimistic and gloomy because the world is in a bad way. Everywhere there are people on the ground getting on with it and being positive.”
Read the rest of this entry »
