Butler's Cinema Scene

Linnea Saasen and Alex Holdridge

“MEET ME IN MONTENEGRO” My rating: C

90 minutes | No MPAA rating

You’d think that a movie that was so overwhelmingly autobiographical would be more interesting.

Alas, “Meet Me in Montenegro” is a bit of a shrug.

It was written by,  directed by, and stars real-life couple Alex Holdridge and Linnea Saasen and gives us — in  fictionalized form — the story of their romance.

Holdridge, whose “In Search of a Midnight Kiss” was an Independent Spirit Award winner back in 2007, has been trying for years to make another feature, and he’s incorporated that struggle as part of  his character’s back story.

Anderson(Holdridge) is a once-promising indie filmmaker now wasting away while trying to sell his new sci-fi script to a big studio.  Nobody’s biting.

Also, he’s moping over the collapse three years ago of a big affair with Lina (Saasen), a Norwegian dancer he met in Berlin and with whom he spent six glorious weeks in Montenegro.  It ended when she vanished without a fare-thee-well. Anderson returned to the States an emotionally bruised loser.

Now he’s back in Berlin. Actor Jason Ritter (playing himself) has expressed an interest in the script and at his own expense Anderson has flown to Germany to take a meeting. Wouldn’t you know it? He runs into Lina, and after some tentative maneuvering they pick up where they left off.

Rupert Friend

There’s a second relationship here.  Anderson is staying in the apartment of his Brit friend Stephen (Rupert Friend) and his long-time German girlfriend Friederike (Jennifer Ulrich). Stephen and Friederike’s relationship is going stale and she suggests they dabble in a bit of mate swapping.  Stephen is terrified, but reluctantly goes along.

Holdridge and Saasen  rely overmuch on Anderson’s narration to tell their story. It’s really irritating…show us, don’t tell us.

Also, the two leads are…well, not unattractive but not all that watchable, either.

Friend and Ulrich, on the other hand, are gorgeous-looking people, but their subplot feels contrived and not a bit creepy.

The intended tone is one of comic romance…except that I don’t think I laughed once.

Thank heavens for the top notch production values, especially Robert Murphy’s lush cinematography, which takes full advantage of the scenic possibilities of Berlin and Montenegro.

| Robert W. Butler