Last night, I watched a tiny britromcom that absolutely broke me. The Girl in the Cafe with Bill Nighy (who I adore) and Kelly Macdonald.

Written by the 4 Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually guy. Deliciously well acted...Nighy was a study in shy ticks and angsty expressions...laugh out loud funny and incredibly educational about the Millenium Goals, G8 bureaucracy and world poverty. No. Really. It was a hoot.

And poignant with a capital POI.

Oh my, yes. Even DH, who watched it with me, with his head tilted and a "Buh?" expression on his face, had to admit that while he neverneverever would have willingly chosen to sit through it had he known what it was "about," the time wasn't wasted. Though he was still a little "Buh?" about it.

I kept, in the odd, fleeting nanoseconds when my attention lapsed, flashing on those two in State of Play, and on Macdonald in Two Family House, which was the first thing I ever saw her in. With Michael Rispoli, JLoey Jr. of While You Were Sleeping.

My mind, she is a frighteningly tangenty place.

ETA: and a sloppy typist, evidently.

Kelly McDonald is lovely. I think the first flick I've seen her in was Trainspotting, in which she does the nasty with Ewan McGreggor in Catholic schoolgirl uniform. Made an impression, she did.

Then she got to smooch the broodmeister Clive Owen in Gosford Park. And she's gonna be the love interest of Colin Firth in Nanny McPhee. OK, I'm a little bit jealous now.

Weetabix:

The actress selected to play Luna: [link]

Wow. She's a good match for Luna I had in my mind.

From IMDB:

Herzog Helped Phoenix from Car Wreckage

Oscar-nominee Joaquin Phoenix was rescued from his car wreck last week by German cult director Werner Herzog. The 31-year-old Walk The Line star overturned his car on a canyon road above Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood after his brakes failed and he collided with another vehicle. Phoenix was saved because he was wearing his seat-belt, but has revealed he was helped from the wreckage by the 63-year-old, who has a home nearby. The actor says, "I remember this knocking on the passenger window. There was this German voice saying, 'Just relax.' There's the airbag, I can't see and I'm saying, 'I'm fine. I am relaxed. Finally, I rolled down the window and this head pops inside. And he said, 'No, you're not.' And suddenly I said to myself, 'That's Werner Herzog' There's something so calming and beautiful about Werner Herzog's voice. I felt completely fine and safe. I climbed out. I got out of the car and I said, 'Thank you,' and he was gone."

Speaking of Herzog, the Discovery Channel is showing Grizzly Man tonight and tomorrow. If you haven't seen it, it's quite the amazing movie.

I had the same reaction to The Girl in the Cafe about 20 minutes into it. It shifted from fluff to major gravity. The scenes with MacDonald speaking her mind were so well written and filmed, they were almost unbearable for me to watch. Such passion and straight ahead conviction.

Loved it.

Also. After seeing Herzog speak about Grizzly Man at AFI, I can totally see him coming to the rescue. And then doing a Father Flannigan to make things right.

I like all the casting choices but Tonks. But that may be that I still think my choice was better. Hmph. Stupid HP casting directors not listening to me.

Stupid HP casting directors not listening to me.

It's not their fault--I bet you didn't yell loudly enough.

I shouldn't need to shout. They should be reading HERE.

I like all the casting choices but Tonks. But that may be that I still think my choice was better.

Who was your choice?

That picture of the Tonks actress probably is misleading. She looks to be playing some kind of Brontëan heroine there, which is as far as you can get from Tonks.

I was afraid they were going to cast Keira Knightly for Tonks, but she's probably too big for them now. (I don't think Knightly is necessarily a bad choice, but dear God she's overexposed. She makes me weary.)