Distracted by Squirrels, Dogs, Children. Etc.

Yesterday Jamie & I giggled and grinned our way through Mike Leigh's latest movie Happy-Go-Lucky. The movie was 118 minutes long... and I wish it was 118 more. Or infinity more. I wish the main character, Poppy (Sally Hawkins), was a real person and I could be her friend. The movie is full of incredible actors [Eddie Marsan as Scott the driving instructor, Karina Fernandez as the Flamenco teacher], hilarious vignettes [Poppy goes to the chiropractor] and unexpectedly touching moments [visit to her sister's, encounter with a homeless man]. It's seriously everything you could want in a movie, including Pulp's Common People on the soundtrack.

Thanks for being amazing Mike Leigh*



*Aria wrote a paper on Mike Leigh in college. We went to the local video store to see if they had some of his films, on VHS of course. I loved the store for their unconventional categorizations ("90's Comedies," "Movies About Food"). I once searched and searched for Do The Right Thing only to find it was in the (duh) designated "Spike Lee" section. Aria joked that maybe they'd have a "Mike Leigh" section too. They did.