alobear: (Default)
alobear ([personal profile] alobear) wrote2010-09-05 06:20 pm

Happy-Go-Lucky and The Young Victoria

It has been an afternoon of gentle, enjoyable drama for me.

Happy-Go-Lucky is an odd kind of a film.  It doesn't start anywhere in particular and it doesn't end anywhere in particular - it just bimbles along through Poppy Cross' life as a primary school teacher who tries to approach life in as positive a way as possible.  She actually rather irritated me to begin with, and the film certainly took a while to get going, but I ended up thinking that her philosophy of life was rather a good one.  Definitely not earth-shattering in any way, shape or form, but an interesting portrait of a likeable character.

The Young Victoria had a little bit more excitement to it, but not much.  It was a lovely story, and I'd like to believe Albert really was that wonderful, but it was also a film where you could tell the bad guy because he kicked the dog, so I think it probably had some gloss added to it.  It was an effective portrayal of the pressures and pitfalls of ruling a country, though, and I liked the way it showed their struggle to free themselves from all the people trying to control them.