Meneka Das Movies

British filmmaker Mike Leigh delivers another emotionally honest portrait of ordinary people trying to make sense of their lives in this comedy drama. Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen) are a couple who are drifting past middle age into their sixties; he's a geologist and she's a psychotherapist. Tom and Gerri have a stable and happy marriage and a grown son, Joe (Oliver Maltman), an activist lawyer who hasn't settled down yet, much to his mother's chagrin. One of Gerri's co-workers and close friends is Mary (Lesley Manville), who puts up a facade of desperate good cheer despite the fact she's been very lonely since her husband left her and has been drowning her anxieties in wine. Gerri has unsuccessfully tried to fix Mary up with Tom's sloppy but good natured pal Ken (Peter Wight), and she's startled when Mary begins openly flirting with Joe, more than 20 years her junior. Mary's troubles only grow worse when she stops by Tom and Gerri's place only to be introduced to Katie (Karina Fernandez), Joe's new girlfriend. Another Year received its world premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Produced for HBO, the Capraesque romantic comedy The Girl in the Café stars Bill Nighy as Lawrence, a mild and unprepossessing British civil servant assigned to his country's delegation at the G8 Summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. Although he'd resigned himself to a life of lonely bachelorhood, Lawrence finds himself drawn to Gina (Kelly MacDonald), a odd, outspoken young woman whom he has met in a café. On a whim, the shy Lawrence invites the decidedly un-shy Gina to accompany him to Reykjavik. The burgeoning relationship between these two seemingly mismatched souls is counterpointed by the political jockeying at the conference, where the avowed purpose of G8 -- to adopt the all-important Millennium Development Goals as a means of reducing world poverty -- is obscured by egomania, xenophobia, and foot-dragging. Ultimately, the time comes when both Lawrence and Gina must make crucial decisions, with not only their own future but also the future of humankind in the balance. Written by Richard Curtis of Four Weddings and a Funeral fame, The Girl in the Café first aired on June 25, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi