In my last KOTV morning show appearance to talk about new movies, I spoke about two films, "Happy-Go-Lucky" and "Rachel Getting Married," that opened last Friday. The angle: Both feature buzzed-about performances with Academy Award potential.
Sally Hawkins, a young British actress unknown to many outside of director Mike Leigh's films, is devastatingly good in "Happy-Go-Lucky," so natural that she disappears into the character of Poppy, an eternal optimist and London second-grade teacher who knows her world and her life aren't perfect, but who is self-aware enough to realize that she can live life as a happy person or as someone who's angry or sad or both. Poppy has chosen to be happy, and Hawkins makes our blues disappear inside the theater.
Anne Hathaway is also quite good in "Rachel Getting Married," playing the tried-and-true Oscar-bait character of Kym, who's been in and out of drug rehab for a decade and is being set free from her latest stint to attend her sister's wedding. Disasters await, and Hathaway is effective at portraying an emotionally up-and-down character, which is more realistic than having her bouncing off the walls for two hours.
But Hawkins delivers the more accomplished work here, and I'll call it by virtue of one of those old acting tests: Imagine each actress playing the other's role.
I can't see Hathaway at all trying to pull off the complicated role of Poppy, which is at first a little irritating at times. It's going to take some achievement to see Hathaway as unlikable in any characterization, as that doesn't even come across in her playing a recovering addict who still makes dangerous mistakes.
As for Hawkins, I can easily imagine her in the form of Hathaway's character, and I can see her bringing multiple layers of complexity to the persona. "Rachel Getting Married" is a good movie; with Hawkins, I could see it being better.
Bottom line: Don't miss Hawkins in "Happy-Go-Lucky," a likely entry in my 10-best list for this year thanks to an acting tour de force.
