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Know anyone who’s a pathological optimist, the kind who always sees the glass half full? Maybe you envy them. Or maybe, like us, you secretly hope they’ll “accidentally” fall down a flight of stairs.
In writer/director Mike Leigh’s latest film HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, Poppy is a sunny optimist whose positive-thinking ways falter after her bike gets stolen (boo-hoo). Her trials might not involve broken bones (damn!), but she does hurt her back and meet a cynical driving instructor.
So what happens to poor Poppy? In Hollywood, she’d fall in love with the pessimistic teacher and change his ways. But since the Oscar-winning director Leigh (Topsy Turvy, Vera Drake, Naked) doesn’t use scripts – he claims that it’s all “guided” improv and has publicly said he’d rather stick pins in his eyes than go Hollywood – maybe that stair thing could happen after all.
Leigh will introduce and screen the Arizona première of the film as the final “bonus” flick during the Scottsdale International Film Festival.
Thu., Oct. 9, 7 p.m., 2008
