"Happy-Go-Lucky," the latest film from five-time Oscar nominee, director Mike Leigh, opened Friday. Sally Hawkins, who plays Poppy, shines throughout the movie. This is by far the most cheerful and optimistic mode a school teacher could possibly be in. Not the typical working-class world Leigh usually explores.

Poppy lives with her best friend and flat mate, Zoe (Alexis Zegerman), in London. She is tested by a repressed driving instructor with anger problems (Eddie Marsan) with whom she will get romantically involved. She also has exciting flamenco lessons, an encounter with a homeless man, a row with her pregnant sister, and a love-affair with the social worker guiding one of her students. So apparently it is as good as it can get from her life’s sunny approach.

Hawkins has already picked up the best actress prize at the Berlin film fest last February. Now the question is whether she can compete at the Oscars next February. But her chances appear to be pretty high.

Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal says Hawkins delivers "an astonishing comic performance" while Manohla Dargis of the New York Times calls her "glorious."

Her lightheartedness makes her seem superficial and even a tad silly. Indeed, her being sunny is so irrepressible, she seems slightly annoying. But we soon learn that there is more to Poppy than her jovial demeanor.

Hawkins and Marsan, as an irresistible force and an immovable object, are terrific: She's as delightful as she is irritating; he's dangerously angry yet utterly vulnerable.

"Happy-Go-Lucky" opens October 10 and it is definitely a “must see.”