Do Worry, Be Happy

If there's anything I've learned in my short time on this planet, it's that when you lose your sense of humor, you're toast.

I've always treasured the famous last words attributed to actor Edmund Gwenn on his deathbed.  When a visitor commiserated that the actor's suffering had to be difficult for him, Gwenn replied, "Dying is easy.  Comedy is hard."

Imagine if instead, Gwenn had merely muttered, "God, yes, it's awful."  We would have been denied a great, funny and profound quote, and Gwenn wouldn't have become such a memorable character: a man who had the good grace to go out with a gag.

I figure if you can face even death with a grin, you've been living life right.  And I've been trying -- hard! -- to bear this in mind during a week when current events kept conspiring to make me lose it.  Our nail-biter of a race for the presidency has brought out the worst in America, which only makes sense: all of the fear and anger that's been roiling in our collective gullet would have to boil to the surface when the specter of a change in our status quo looms nigh.

The struggle against wingnut racism and the like can make you become way too serious, even doleful in spirit.  And as I'm currently working on a new project that has some serious issues at its core, a big question on my mind of late has been: how do you "find the funny" when a situation (oh, say, a country in crisis) is so legitimately dire?

Weirdly enough, the piece of entertainment that proved capable of speaking directly to this issue, and rescuing my good spirits, came from the fertile mind of Mike Leigh.  You remember him -- the British writer/director Master of Bleak, who's explored the grim, the gloomy, and the depressed in such films as Naked, Secrets & Lies, and Vera Drake; when he titled one of his movies Life is Sweet, it was clearly a mordant joke.

The good news is that his latest, the un-ironically named Happy Go-Lucky, is about as up an upper as a film can be, without losing its mind and its credibility.  It's about a young woman named Poppy -- buoyantly brought to life by the incandescent Sally Hawkins -- who is irrepressibly cheerful.  She's so damned happy she could annoy the hell out of you (and Leigh cannily makes sure to show you how that might be), but she's also so goofily, gloriously lovable that you can't help getting caught up in her story.

That story -- and note to screenwriters, it's one of those brilliant "don't try this at home" gambits that only a seasoned pro could pull off -- is really a mere wisp of a thing.  The film is essentially a skein of slim subplots that add up to one driving question: Can she do it?  Can a person retain her happy spirit and her sense of humor, in the face of all we know of reality's daily horrors?

I'm sort of amazed at the serendipity of my happening to see Happy Go-Lucky when I wanted to have precisely this question addressed.  And I'm not going to spoil it for you by giving away too much of how the happiness-versus-adversity issue plays out in it.  Suffice to say that Poppy, after gamely taking on a surly bookstore owner, a troubled gradeschool bully and a deranged homeless man, among other challenges, does her meet her match, in the person of a Driver's Ed Teacher From Hell (played by the excellent Eddie Marsan).  Their final confrontation isn't one you'll likely forget, nor how within a few exquisite shots, devoid of dialogue, Poppy processes what's happened... and finds her ultimate answer.

Along the way to that silent epiphany, as is usually true of Leigh's work, you'll be treated to the not inconsiderable pleasure of observing people, places and things that resonate with a sense of real life.  Because of his unique methodology (Leigh famously improvises with his group of actors for weeks on end, and develops his scripts out of these workshops), his films are quietly busy with the small details that tell all; his oeuvre is a testament to the power of positive subtlety.

Sally Hawkins is a joy to behold, at any rate, and I left the theater moved and thoughtful.  Worry is good, I found myself musing, worry's there for a reason, you live without it at your peril. If I understand Leigh right, there are of course some things that even the brightest smile and the brashest sense of humor can't overcome. 

But in the world according to Poppy, it certainly doesn't hurt to try.

  

Comments

[binnie]

I saw "Happy" 2 weeks ago and found Poppy to be so squirmingly ANNOYING, until she had her epiphany with the driving teacher (I kind of understood his pain, actually). Maybe she reminded me of a certain family member who treats everything in life as a comedy "bit", while I am dealing with some harsh realities of my own here at home. The movie did nothing to raise my spirits; I kept waiting for something horrible to happen and it just made me more anxious.
Sally Hawkins IS an amazing actress, though, and doesn't she remind you a little bit of Rita Tushingham? Now I AM dating myself...
My LA trip was too short but quite wonderful, thanks!

[j]

I tend to be a positive chick myself, but for some reason, a movie about an inherently cheerful girl puts me off.

I'd rather watch like...another episode of 'Deadliest Catch.' Now THAT helps a person feel better about her life. Because no matter how bad shit is...at least you're not freezing and frozen in the middle of the Arctic sea.

[E.C. Henry]

Billy, you should have told us more about your latest project.

"Finding the funny" depends on a person's disposition, if you asked me. DEEP down inside I'm a very silly person. Grew up watching tons of cartoons. Then when my social life didn't matterialize the way it does for normal people, I found myself doing odd things to entertain myself: mutter carnival tunes under my breath, made-up rhyming songs. This had led to a skewed outlook on life. Basically under the venier of life I see cartoons and cartoon characters.

So glad you chose to post on this movie, Billy. Would have skipped "Happy Go-Lucky" -- had it not been for your blog entry. Now, I'm going to make an effort to try to see it. Never doubt your abilty to influence others.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

[Kathrin]

Saw that film a few months ago - although this London teacher is always so upbeat - I seldom left the cinema more "moved" - the character got on my nerves - and I felt I saw this loneliness deep down inside her...
Sally Hawkins is such a good actress - especially if you saw her in that BBC adaption of Jane Austen´s "Persuasion" where she was quite an opposite character.

Don´t let it get you down, Billy!

[mernitman]

Binnie: Rita Tushingham!!! Absolutely.

J: Kafka would've gone for a girl like you.

EC: Always happy to be a positive influence (it's all those people I've sent off the deep end, I worry about).

Thanks, Kathrin -- and now I must go rent the BBC "Persuasion!"

[Joanna Farnsworth]

I'm sorry to have to say, yes, Poppy annoyed the hell out me. I couldn't see any tragic reason behind her cheerfulness. Like Gwenn said, comedy is tragedy. As for Persuasion, give me Roger Michell's 1995 version any day.

[the captain]

true, she is annoying at first but then she grows on you and you root for her. her performance is nothing short of incredible - as is that of her driving instructor - WOW! - and this is a must see film.

[mernitman]

That's what makes horse-racing, Joanna!

Welcome Captain: Eddie Marstan is AWESOME.