The Girl in the Cafe
A DVD of The Girl in the Cafe - a film starring Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald - has been circulating blogland, in an attempt to bring it to a wider audience. You receive it, you watch it, you review it, you pass it on. Last week was my turn.
What I loved about this film was its slow subtlety. There's not a lot of action, and yet it always held my attention. The performances are understated and the characters are self-effacing, but you want the protagonists to get together and it's gorgeous when they do. I'm a sucker for a love story, particularly one as beautifully teasing as this.
There were some lovely little moments: there was a misunderstanding with some "small towels" (flannels), I clapped my hands with glee when they finally kissed, and I loved the less-is-more-ness of the female lead's back story being barely touched upon. Nothing happens, but so much happens.
And then there's the politics. Hmmm. Y'see, I'm so much more of a cynic about politics than I am about love. It was a lovely message, and everyone loves an underdog, and worms that turn, and Innocent Small People standing up to Corrupt Big People and all that, but come on. Did it really tell us anything we didn't already know? And was it even slightly believable or possible? Of course not. The British politicians were painted far too sympathetically at the end of the film (sorry, but they really aren't that nice and don't have that many scruples), and there was a ludicrous naivete about the whole thing.
As for its intention as a piece of propaganda, I find that slightly mystifying. Surely it should have some message, some suggestion, for what people can do to help the cause of Make Poverty History (millions of people all over the world are dying because of poverty, and Western leaders have the power to help, by cancelling 3rd world debt and generally not being money-grubbing bastards)? And yet in the film, the demonstrators outside the G8 are barely mentioned, and instead it appears that everything rests in the hands of this one sweet woman who has found herself, by accident, in the presence of international politicians. Hardly a followable strategy for the rest of us.
So. Politically it was a bit pants to this old cynic, but dramatically... well, viewed purely as a work of art or a piece of entertainment, I loved it and it made me cry.
So there you go. I definitely recommend it. If you want to join in and review the film yourself, just go here.
___
What I loved about this film was its slow subtlety. There's not a lot of action, and yet it always held my attention. The performances are understated and the characters are self-effacing, but you want the protagonists to get together and it's gorgeous when they do. I'm a sucker for a love story, particularly one as beautifully teasing as this.
There were some lovely little moments: there was a misunderstanding with some "small towels" (flannels), I clapped my hands with glee when they finally kissed, and I loved the less-is-more-ness of the female lead's back story being barely touched upon. Nothing happens, but so much happens.
And then there's the politics. Hmmm. Y'see, I'm so much more of a cynic about politics than I am about love. It was a lovely message, and everyone loves an underdog, and worms that turn, and Innocent Small People standing up to Corrupt Big People and all that, but come on. Did it really tell us anything we didn't already know? And was it even slightly believable or possible? Of course not. The British politicians were painted far too sympathetically at the end of the film (sorry, but they really aren't that nice and don't have that many scruples), and there was a ludicrous naivete about the whole thing.
As for its intention as a piece of propaganda, I find that slightly mystifying. Surely it should have some message, some suggestion, for what people can do to help the cause of Make Poverty History (millions of people all over the world are dying because of poverty, and Western leaders have the power to help, by cancelling 3rd world debt and generally not being money-grubbing bastards)? And yet in the film, the demonstrators outside the G8 are barely mentioned, and instead it appears that everything rests in the hands of this one sweet woman who has found herself, by accident, in the presence of international politicians. Hardly a followable strategy for the rest of us.
So. Politically it was a bit pants to this old cynic, but dramatically... well, viewed purely as a work of art or a piece of entertainment, I loved it and it made me cry.
So there you go. I definitely recommend it. If you want to join in and review the film yourself, just go here.
___
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