Happy-Go-Lucky
Showing Until Thu 15 May
Rated 12
- Director
- Mike Leigh
- Country of origin and year
- Britain 2008
- Duration
- 118 minutes
- Certificate
- Rated 15
- Cast
- Sally Hawkins, Alexis Zegerman, Andrea Riseborough, Samuel Roukin, Sinead Matthews, Eddie Marsan.
Screening Information
Matinees (before 5pm): £4.50 / £3.00
Evening screenings (after 5pm): £6.00 / £4.50
Booking hotline: 0131 228 2688.
Screenings from Thu 15 May
| Day | Screening times | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu 15 May | 13:00 Filmhouse screen 1 | 15:30 Filmhouse screen 1 | 18:00 Filmhouse screen 1 | 20:40 Filmhouse screen 1 | |
| Fri 16 May | |||||
| Sat 17 May | |||||
| Sun 18 May | |||||
| Mon 19 May | |||||
| Tue 20 May | |||||
| Wed 21 May | |||||
Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is a 30-year-old Londoner with a bright outlook on life. She loves her job, she loves her friends, she loves her freedom. Mike Leigh's new film follows her over a few weeks one spring as she learns to drive and embarks on a new romance.
There’s usually one character that lords over and defines any film by Mike Leigh, whether it’s David Thewlis’ Johnny in Naked, Timothy Spall’s Maurice in Secrets and Lies, or Imelda Staunton’s kind-hearted abortionist in Vera Drake.
With his new film, Leigh once again offers us an immensely memorable and exquisitely well-crafted persona in the form of Sally Hawkins' Poppy, a woman we follow intimately from the first to the last shot. But the tone of Happy-Go-Lucky is a great deal lighter than any of those films mentioned above. In its use of comedy, sometimes laugh-out-loud, to reveal truths that are both happy and sad, it’s slightly reminiscent of Leigh’s earlier television films such as Nuts in May and Abigail’s Party. Yet that comparison only goes so far.
What Happy-Go-Lucky most feels like is a positive inversion of Naked, the bleak 1993 film that followed a hate-filled man (Thewlis) around London. Both are contemporary London tales; both are slyly telling or reflective of the times; both look for moments of poetry within realism; and both are as much composite portraits of an individual as they are straight stories. While Johnny of Naked was a misanthrope of the highest order, the defining character of Hawkins’ Poppy is her love of life. Leigh’s films are often and lazily described as ‘gritty’ or ‘miserable’.
This is joyful and life-affirming and proud of it.
FOR CRYING OUT LOUD
Screening for carers and their babies on Monday 5 May at 10.30am
Baby changing, botlle warming and buggy parking facilities available. Tickets £3/£2 concessions per adult. Screenings limited to babies under 12 months accompanied by no more than two adults.
For Crying Out Loud is sponsored by CBeebies.
Please note: Contains strong language
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