2005 UK The Girl in the Cafe | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Comments: Watching this I kept thinking Bill Nighy's performance would wear out or he wouldn't be able to sustain it. Wrong. Beyond the sheer joy of his performance is a pretty good slap in the G8 summit's face. The politics are solid in this film, the emotions are fragile. "I fear you'd think less of her if she were with me." Ouch.
Summary: A May-December comedy becomes a political drama. Lawrence, a spindly, self-effacing civil servant, is a senior researcher for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, preparing for a G-8 summit that will determine the scope of the world's effort to reduce extreme poverty. In a crowded café, he chats awkwardly with Gina, a young Scot with time on her hands. They share a couple of meals, and he invites her to accompany him to the summit in Reykjavík. Once there, as romance blooms, Gina's past, Lawrence's work and proclivity to compromise, and the presence of ministers and presidents spur her to act. |