{"id":3916,"date":"2015-07-09T06:31:03","date_gmt":"2015-07-09T13:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=3916"},"modified":"2015-07-09T06:38:36","modified_gmt":"2015-07-09T13:38:36","slug":"review-meet-me-in-montenegro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=3916","title":{"rendered":"Review: MEET ME IN MONTENEGRO"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Creative types often find angst as a source of creativity. They wallow in it, often wearing it as a badge of honor. At house parties, these types can be found huddling in the kitchen pontificating about life and how they were screwed out of making their passion project. The secret is that without angst these folks would have little to keep them going\u2014the creative edge would be lost.<\/p>\n

This is the subversive underbelly of \u201cMeet Me in Montenegro,\u201d Alex Holdridge\u2019s follow-up feature to his wonderful 2007 movie \u201cIn Search of a Midnight Kiss.\u201d This time, Holdridge co-writes and co-directs with his co-star Linnea Saasen. It\u2019s Saasen\u2019s first film in any capacity according to IMDB. And while Holdridge might decide to continue his career as the guy in the kitchen reveling in angst, Saasen is a fresh face that should find lots of work after \u201cMeet Me in Montenegro\u201d grabs its cool-kid audience.<\/p>\n

Billed as a \u201ccomedy\u201d \u201cMeet Me in Montenegro\u201d is an anxiety-filled romance as Woody Allen might have made it. Holdridge plays Anderson, a filmmaker who hasn\u2019t made a film in years. While Holdridge might be playing a version of himself, he reminded me of a hybrid composite character with parts of director Shane Carruth (\u201cUpstream Color\u201d) mixed in. Anderson is at his wits\u2019 end. The early award-winning promise of his career has flat-lined. His agent is trying to help him produce a big budget science fiction film based on Anderson\u2019s script. But Anderson reveals that he\u2019s only doing it for the money.<\/p>\n

We learn very quickly that Anderson\u2019s neurotic side was inflamed when he was jilted in Montenegro by a beautiful dancer name Lina (Linnea Saasen). Through smart use of treated images and flashback footage, we see Anderson\u2019s romanticized remembrance of that fleeting romance most typified by a jump from a cliff into a large body of water. With Lina, Anderson\u2019s angst seems to dissipate. But her abrupt exit from his life has left a gaping hole that has yet to be filled. And instead of inspirational, this form of longing has left him crippled.<\/p>\n

But when his agent arranges a meeting with a big star in Berlin, Anderson takes off to the very city where he first met Lina. Inevitably, their paths will cross again, but will the romance rekindle?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMeet Me in Montenegro\u201d is a splendid indie entry well shot on the Canon DSLR. In-keeping with Holdridge\u2019s early work, he re-teams with cinematographer Robert Murphy, who shot \u201cIn Search of a Midnight Kiss.\u201d With a similar narrative structure, Murphy is able to deliver a similar visual scope but this time taking full advantage of the flexibility and the portability of the DSLR and its creative aperture choices. Years ago, I shot an interview with Holdridge and his \u201cMidnight Kiss\u201d stars and crew in New York and I remember the help I received in setting up and breaking down my equipment. The intimacy of the camera work here clearly shows that Holdridge and Murphy are in sync with one another.<\/p>\n

Other cast choices work well, especially with Rupert Friend and Jennifer Ulrich as a couple in Berlin in the middle of some kind of relationship crisis. This parallel story contains some of the film\u2019s most telling moments. And while I\u2019m sure that Holdridge scripted the dialogue, the natural delivery of the heartfelt lines makes this relationship very real.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeet in Montenegro\u201d will strike a chord with most anyone experiencing angst and those that feed off it. And at the next party you attend, check out the kitchen, because that\u2019s where you\u2019ll often find some uneasy but engrossing conversation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Filmmaker Alex Holdridge returns with a Woody Allen-esque romantic adventure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3916"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3927,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3916\/revisions\/3927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}