Happy Go Lucky

Poppy is not a contradiction of but an artistic first cousin to Leigh's previous heroine, Vera Drake; both are open, fearless, unselfish and compassionate women, trying to craft the best life possible out of the potentially dreary material of existence.
A fellow teacher tells Poppy: "You celebrate chaos." Leigh revels in the celebration. An early scene in which Poppy and her flatmate, Zoe (Alexis Zegerman), construct crazy grocery-sack bird heads makes no sense until we learn the women are schoolteachers working on a class project. Like Vera Drake, Poppy seems incapable of ignoring the needy; she invites danger by confronting a homeless man, and she refuses to be cowed by the increasingly scary behavior of her frustrated, right-wing driving instructor (played by chameleonic character actor Eddie Marsan, whose presence enhanced "Vera Drake" and "Hancock").
Shot on location, "Happy-Go-Lucky" doesn't lead the viewer; Leigh allows us to interpret Poppy's behavior without the editorializing mood music, expressionistic lighting and flattering or disturbing camera angles that accompany most movie portraits. Clearly, there is no "correct" way to respond to this woman. The result is a character who is convincing and "real," and a movie that is as generous as its heroine.

The Namesake

A beautiful film with little love gems all the way through.

Accomplished and acclaimed Indian filmmaker Mira Nair's films have often crossed cultures. In this Fox Searchlight adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's major international bestseller The Namesake, Nair (Vanity Fair, Kama Sutra, Monsoon Wedding) vividly portrays a Hindu family's reality in America. As the director herself says: "It encompasses, in a deep humane way, the tale of millions of us who have left one home for another, who have known what it is to combine the old ways with the new world, who have left the shadow of our parents to find ourselves for the first time."