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MIKE Leigh's latest film Happy-Go-Lucky has surprised all of those people who thought that the director's films were always a bit serious or grim.

He's obviously made cheerier projects - Topsy Turvy, in particular - but is connected in the public's imagination with his more serious classics, such as Vera Drake, Life is Sweet and Naked.

Now, the 65-year-old writer/director has produced his sunniest slice of life yet, with this film about the life of Poppy (Sally Hawkins), who is the sort of person who laughs on the bus when it goes around a crazy bend - and everyone else thinks she's slightly unhinged.

The running time follows Poppy's life in her day job as a primary school teacher, helping a young pupil who's being violent towards others, and in her private life, visiting her sister and enjoying London nights out with their friends.

She may drive you mad, or you may find her the most endearing cinematic character you've ever encountered.

We watch her mild reaction as she discovers that her beloved bicycle is stolen - "I didn't get to say goodbye", she chirrups - which commences the slight narrative, as she decides to learn to drive.

As the wheels of this story are set in motion, the stand out performance of the whole show is introduced - step forward and take a bow Eddie Marsan, who plays "peep and creep" driving instructor Scott.

He initially can't meet Poppy's eye, so intimidating does he find her full-on optimism, but she eventually infects him to such an extent that he explodes, provoking the most dramatic scene of the film. Marsan is completely brilliant, giving full flow to the rage that consumes this embittered man.

Happy-Go-Lucky is, as with all of Leigh's work, open to analysis and interpretation, despite the fact that the director himself would rather that we took it at face value as a story of a happy young woman.

Modern life is captured in many of its forms, and the London setting is the ideal platform from which to look at a man whose own disappointments means that he walks around ready to lash out at anyone and everyone, constantly at boiling point.

What's always refreshing with Leigh is how these characters are proper people, especially the warm depiction of female friendship by Hawkins and Alexis Zegerman, who plays her flatmate Zoe.

This is a charming little window onto the world, which shows us a reality of feeling rarely seen in mainstream cineplexes these days, which will surely delight Leigh fans and anyone seeking something a little bit different.

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