Mirabelle Buttersfield is a lovely name

This weekend, i went to see Shopgirl, starring Claire Danes. She's not what you would call an A-list actress. The last thing i remember seeing her in was that TV series, My So-called Life, whose reruns now show on Noggin. She was perfect in this role, though. She was flawless in every aspect. The thing that i love most about her acting is her amazing facial expressions. She is incredible at controlling her facial expressions while acting and she's one of those who can say everything with a look, literally.
Anyway, she plays a gentle, kind-hearted person, "coping" with depression, who works at the glove counter at Saks, the most unvisited counter there. She's also an artist in her spare time. She leads a very low-key and routine life. She is what you would call passive. Two men, more like a boy and a man enter her life around the same time. One is childish and playful bringing comedic relief to the movie. The other one, Steve Martin, is over 50 and tends to carry a creepy mood throughout the plot. He suddenly shows interest in this 20 something girl who he barely knows. I think the contrast between her "love interests" is meant to show us her struggle in life with learning how to grow from holding on to her inner child to learning how to deal with the realities of being a "grown-up" and the realities, good and bad, of the grown up world.
The casting was great. As i said, Claire Danes was great. It was also refreshing, sort of, to see Steve Martin portray such a different character than his normal comedic roles, even if he was a little shady. The music was unusually perfect. There was some classic violin pieces but there were also very indie sounding soft rock melodies that sounded very modern. There weren't any outstanding camera angles or film-techniques used, but the way that the story unfolds and the journey that we see take place for the main character is what makes the movie so great. It's a very real film. For me, it invoked alot of emotions and i really felt and understood what the character was feeling. It was a very rich film, that went deeper than i expected.
This a flipping long post, so i'll stop. I hope that i successfully conveyed how i felt about the movie, because it feels like i just rambled. Anyhoo....enjoy....
Lauren