Comments on: HAPPY-GO-LUCKY http://www.filmsinreview.com/2008/11/09/happy-go-lucky/ Film Reviews and Articles - Since 1909 Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:19:13 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Jason http://www.filmsinreview.com/2008/11/09/happy-go-lucky/comment-page-1/#comment-7903 Jason Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:00:14 +0000 http://www.filmsinreview.com/?p=1903#comment-7903 The movie gives her two clear crises: 1) the class bully, and 2) when the driving instructor loses it. She notices the young boy play-fighting with another kid at recess, and then notices it again and breaks it up. And then what does she do? She reacts in a way that we never see schoolteachers react in the movies: she sees things from all sides, and understands that she'll be much more useful to the boy if she doesn't discipline him in the same-old same-old predictable way. She understands that kids like that probably have something else going on that is causing them to behave that way. A good teacher would do what she did, while a lesser teacher would have simply punished the kid in some stupid way, while not making anything better. It's because of her actions that maybe this kid will be able to turn things around and have a chance. The scenes with the driving instructor progress a little bit more every time we see them. Poppy is using irreverance and irony to get to the instructor, because she senses right away that he's a malcontent. So what does she do? She plays like she anti-authority by pretending to be flighty and dumb, but did you notice how she listens and regards him at times? She knows him already. She's met that kind of guy before. And when he crosses the line, she steps right up to the plate and is ready to fight. In both of those scenarios, she does precisely the right thing, by using empathy to help the child, and then by standing up for herself to the driving instructor, even though she was complicit in baiting him. I had to write in because first of all, being flip about cancer isn't very classy, and second, your review appears to show a remarkable lack of curiosity in human behavior. "We don't know why Poppy is the way she is?", you asked. Does everything in the world need an explanation? Aren't most people the way they are because they are the way they are? Your life would be far richer with a Poppy in it, since she's a wonderfully curious human being who is open to many experiences, and who uses her humor and irreverance wisely in order to cover the realist underneath. The movie gives her two clear crises: 1) the class bully, and 2) when the driving instructor loses it. She notices the young boy play-fighting with another kid at recess, and then notices it again and breaks it up. And then what does she do? She reacts in a way that we never see schoolteachers react in the movies: she sees things from all sides, and understands that she’ll be much more useful to the boy if she doesn’t discipline him in the same-old same-old predictable way. She understands that kids like that probably have something else going on that is causing them to behave that way. A good teacher would do what she did, while a lesser teacher would have simply punished the kid in some stupid way, while not making anything better. It’s because of her actions that maybe this kid will be able to turn things around and have a chance.

The scenes with the driving instructor progress a little bit more every time we see them. Poppy is using irreverance and irony to get to the instructor, because she senses right away that he’s a malcontent. So what does she do? She plays like she anti-authority by pretending to be flighty and dumb, but did you notice how she listens and regards him at times? She knows him already. She’s met that kind of guy before. And when he crosses the line, she steps right up to the plate and is ready to fight.

In both of those scenarios, she does precisely the right thing, by using empathy to help the child, and then by standing up for herself to the driving instructor, even though she was complicit in baiting him.

I had to write in because first of all, being flip about cancer isn’t very classy, and second, your review appears to show a remarkable lack of curiosity in human behavior. “We don’t know why Poppy is the way she is?”, you asked. Does everything in the world need an explanation? Aren’t most people the way they are because they are the way they are?

Your life would be far richer with a Poppy in it, since she’s a wonderfully curious human being who is open to many experiences, and who uses her humor and irreverance wisely in order to cover the realist underneath.

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