MEET ME IN MONTENEGRO

Meet Me in Montenegro tells the story of two ex-lovers who are both down on their luck. By chance the two reunite in Berlin and lean on each other for support as their careers weather many ups and downs. A love story cleverly told, by filmmakers Linnea Saasen and Alex Holdridge, one of forgotten romance found again. (JEP: 3.5/5)

Written by Contributing Editor Jessica E. Perry

Loosely based on writer/director pair Linnea Saasen and Alex Holdridge’s lives, Meet Me in Montenegro tells the story of two ex-lovers who find each other again after years apart. The two wrote, directed, and starred in the film, cleverly bringing their own experiences to the screen.

Meet Me in Montenegro opens in flashback. With “Anderson” (Alex Holdridge) telling us how Montenegro was magic, until the girl he loved—the girl who made him feel alive—left without a word, leaving him alone in a beautiful seaside town.

As an American screenwriter, Anderson has been down on his luck. A script he’s been working on for years gets one last chance when an actor in Berlin agrees to a meeting. However, Anderson all but refuses to take the meeting because the girl who broke his heart lives in the very same city. But he’s broke and out of options, so reluctantly, Anderson jets off to Berlin.

While in Germany, Anderson is staying with an old buddy “Stephen” (Rupert Friend) and his girlfriend “Friederike” (Jennifer Ulrich). The couple is interested in exploring new things sexually with other partners. This B storyline runs throughout Meet Me in Montenegro offering the viewer a glimpse into another broken love story.

Stephen tells Anderson that the girl who broke his heart still lives in town. And while Anderson may have told himself that he moved on, the opposite proves true when he finds himself seeing a film at the theater she always went to on Friday nights. Amazingly (and a bit predictably) she—“Lina” (Linnea Saasen)—happens to be there. The two lock eyes, and so it begins…again.

Lina is an optimist, Anderson a realist, but life has got them both at a crossroads. Lina is a dancer and has been offered an arts residency in another country. Anderson’s script has been green lit by the studio, and his career is in LA.

So the two plan to spend their last days in Berlin together and then part once again. But as both of their careers are thrown into upheaval by forces out of their control, Lina and Anderson find themselves at a crossroads of choosing between love and their careers.

Alex Holdridge fumbled in a few areas of his performance as Anderson, but never enough to take me out of the film. Linnea Saasen’s performance, on the other hand, was engaging and compelling, giving the film its light.

Meet Me in Montenegro was a story seen before, but told from a different perspective. Was it superb? Maybe not. But do you want to stay with Lina and Anderson in their love story until the very end? Definitely.