Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

4/23/2022

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) - Leigh celebrates Poppy the optimist

♥♥♥♥

+ Best English Movie of the Year + Breakthrough Actress of the Year: Sally Hawkins

Co-star Sally Hawkins flashes pearly whites and lovely hair on this brightly colored poster for Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky

Poppy is a primary school teacher, who attends flamenco lessons, lives with a good friend and also takes driving lessons with a driving instructor with anger issues. Poppy, on the other hand, is an optimist and a humorist.

Happy-Go-Lucky is written and directed by great English filmmaker Mike Leigh (Bleak Moments (1971)).

When one gets past the very silly and a bit annoying elements of Poppy's persona, she also turns out to be a very charming, thoughtful, intelligent and sympathetic acquaintance, and Sally Hawkins (An Education (2009)) has a star-making turn in the part. Eddie Marsan (A Kind of Murder (2016)) is also extraordinary as the driving instructor.

Leigh interweaves lots of colors here, - especially hopeful green, - into a refreshing, plot-neglecting, episodic film, which is a kind of person type portrait more than anything else. Happy-Go-Lucky also has a terrific scene with a schizophrenic

Related posts:

Mike Leigh: Another Year (2010) or, Life in England

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

All or Nothing (2002) - Leigh wrangles more working class destinies with great performances

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: Unknown, projected at 4 mil. $

Box office: 18.6 mil. $

= Uncertain, but likely a big hit (projected return of 4.65 times its cost)

[Happy-Go-Lucky premiered 12 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 118 minutes. The UK Film Council supported the production with 1.41 mil. £ (approximately 1.82 mil. $). Shooting took place in England, including in London. The film opened #40 to a 73k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #19 and in 202 theaters, grossing 3.5 mil. $ (18.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 3.1 mil. $ (16.7 %) and France with 2.9 mil. $ (15.6 %). If made on a realistic 4 mil. $ budget, the film would rank as a big hit. It was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, lost to Dustin Lance Black for Milk. It also won 2/3 British Independent Film award nominations, was nominated for 2 European Film awards and won 1/2 Golden Globe nominations, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Leigh returned with Another Year (2010). Hawkins returned in An Education (2009); Marsan in Hancock (2008); and Alexis Zegerman (Albatross (2011)) in Storm (2009). Happy-Go-Lucky is certified fresh at 93 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Happy-Go-Lucky?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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4/23/2022

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) - Leigh celebrates Poppy the optimist

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