Happy-Go-Lucky is Mike Leigh’s antidote for a grim, irony-sickened age. When his heroine, Poppy (a sexy, sprightly Sally Hawkins), sings The Pointer Sisters’ “I’m So Excited” to her best friend, for instance, she means it—both that she is so excited, and that she thinks this (wonderful) song is the perfect expression of her feelings. Suffice it to say that Happy-Go-Lucky is a real surprise. It’s not that we are unused to seeing characters like this in films, but that we are used to seeing them only as irritating sidekicks, or as soon-to-be erstwhile optimists, proven foolish by the disturbing realities of life.

But Poppy is never punished by Leigh and, accordingly, by us. Other characters, such as her uptight driving instructor, Scott (Eddie Marsan), tread on her philosophy, providing it with significant challenges. She is wakened to new kinds of life lessons, ones informed by her job as a primary school teacher, yet never stops giggling at the petty absurdities and frustrations that make so many of us morose. Happy-Go-Lucky is, then, impressively two-pronged. Leigh handles Poppy convincingly, yet implicitly asks us to read her episodic life as didactic. Beware of those who are put off by the latter: they probably take themselves too seriously, something that Leigh’s film, with its transcendent wit and grace, never does.—David Balzer

Happy-Go-Lucky festival show times:
• September 8, 7:00 p.m., Isabel Bader Theatre
• September 10, 9:00 a.m., Scotiabank Theatre 2