The Girl in the Cafe

This is an improbably movie, and against all odds it works. Not just for me either, it won three Emmys: one for the movie, one for the actress, and one for the writing. I had never heard of it when I picked it up off the shelf at the library but it is well worth watching. There is a small story, and then a big story nestled inside it. The small story is two lonely and shy people hesitantly meet each other and become friends. The bigger story is about what one person who isn't completely caught up in protocol might be able to do.

Bill Nighy is the financial aide to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Kelly MacDonald is the shy and decent girl he meets in a cafe then impulsively asks her to join him for the G8 meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland. He is mired in the protocol of diplomacy, long past thinking that anything meaningful will come out of the meeting of the economic powerhouses of the world. She is not so hampered, and to the profound embarrassment of them all, says what she thinks about the whole process. At a state dinner. It is touching and lovely, despite being improbable.