Here’s the opening to my review for rednoW of Happy Go Lucky.

In 1960 Disney Studios adapted a well-known children’s novel by Eleanor H. Porter into a film by the same name: Pollyanna. The character, a young orphan girl who finds the good in every situation, no matter how dire, became cultural shorthand for naive optimism. Calling someone a Pollyanna is less a compliment about that person’s positive disposition than it is a critique of how out of touch from the real world the person is.

Porter’s character has resurfaced and been reinvented throughout the years. In Mike Leigh’s latest film, Happy Go Lucky, some have wondered if Pollyanna has been spotted again. This time she is Poppy, a schoolteacher in North London. From the first scene the comparison is understandable. After repeated cheerful attempts at small talk with a grumpy bookstore clerk, Polly walks outside to find her bike has been stolen. Through her smiling reaction to this loss (“I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye”), the film quickly reveals Poppy’s abnormal way of interpreting her life…

…continue reading at rednoW.