“The Girl In The Cafe”
During my recent trip to London I finally picked up a DVD copy of the BBC series “State of Play.” It’s a phenomenal series, possibly the best I’ve ever seen on television, but this isn’t a review of “State of Play.” One of the supporting members of that cast was a newspaper Editor-In-Chief played by the wonderfully talented Bill Nighy. Apparently because of his performance in “State of Play” he’s suddenly found himself in far more American productions than ever before, including a part in “The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy” as well as the next “Pirates of the Carribean film.”
Nighy’s most recent performance can be found in the HBO Films movie that debuted recently called “The Girl in the Cafe.” The film also finds one of his “State of Play” co-stars, the terribly cute Kelly Macdonald, sharing the spotlight. This is definitely a film worth watching.
“The Girl in the Cafe” is a romance about and the most unusual bringing together of two most unusual people. It’s the kind of romantic film that gets you to believe there really is that perfect someone out there for you and on rare occasions they do end up together. Bill Nighy plays an crucially important finance minister of sorts as he prepares for the coming G8 conference. He lives a terribly solitary existence that generally finds his nose buried deep inside finance books and government documents. One day he meets a girl, totally by chance, in a cafe, played by Kelly Macdonald. An unlikely pairing begins, but it doesn’t happen overnight.
The key to this film is the performances by Nighy and Macdonald, a most unlikely pairing that seemingly works thanks to the skill of the actors. Nighy is the true treat, here. Where in “State of Play” he was an intelligent and highly-confident Editor-In-Chief with a load of quirky mannerisms, in “The Girl in the Cafe” he plays an intelligent finance minister with a load of quirky mannerisms who completely lacks confidence in his social life. The love affair that takes place between Nighy and Macdonald can be agonizingly slow (in a good way), but watching these two actors struggle through their own insecurities is heart warmining.
Half the film takes place in Iceland, the location of the fitional G8 conference, which is where the director gets a chance to spread his wings a bit. It seems any time a film takes place in Iceland (“Batman Begins” had a good 10-20 minutes of footage from the tiny island nation) immediately benefits from the the incredible beauty the counrty affords a film maker. The scenes of the motorcade going from the airport to the hotel are just breathtaking. Gotta visit that country one day.
I’ll warn the more conservative and politically motivated readers out there that this film wears its politics proudly on its sleeve. Nighy’s a finance minister for the British government who desperately wants to see his country make some progress with African famine and poverty But while the politics are an important backdrop in the story, it’s secondary to the personalities that Nighy and Macdonald inhabit. I can’t imagine even the most conservative viewer not enjoying the masterful performance of Bill Nighy.
The film is written by Richard Curtis, who also wrote “Four Weddings & A Funeral,” “Notting Hill” and “Love Actually,” a man who knows how to write a more mature, realistic romantic film than most of what you find coming out of Hollywood these days. The “State of Play” reunion tri-fecta is finished off by director David Yates, who won numerous awards for his work on the previously mentioned “State of Play.” Yates is set direct the next “Harry Potter” film and we’re all better off as a result.
If you’re looking for an unusual romantic film with top notch acting, directing and writing, then fire up your TiVo or other DVR and schedule it to record an upcoming showing of “The Girl in the Cafe.”
