Selected to screen at 2024 CAAMFest, Lina Suh constructs what is easily one of the best films of the year. “Meeting You, Meeting Me” is a wonderful chamber piece about two kindred spirits that meet under the most unlikely circumstances. So much of “Meeting You, Meeting Me” is based on whether or not the pair of stars Annika Foster and Sam Yim can spark any kind of chemistry, and lo and behold they have it. “Meeting You , Meeting Me” felt very much in the tradition of masterpieces like “Before Sunset” where circumstances put two people together who didn’t know they needed they each other.
Two women from very different walks of life – Simone, a Korean American divorce attorney who is very rooted in her immigrant family’s upbringing, and Sav, a Californian college dropout searching for herself after being canceled online — both desperately need a friend in this moment, when they cross paths by chance and form an unlikely friendship.
Stars Kim and Foster are marvelous in their respective roles portraying two women at the beginning of new chapters in their lives anxiously trying to look for a way out of taking this new direction. Sav appears at Simone’s door to buy her old traveling back pack and this sparks a recollection of unfulfilled ambitions and regrets that turn them in to instant kindred spirits. A majority of “Meeting You, Meeting Me” is set in one place where Sav’s quirkier efforts to ensure she stay true to her plans to travel, allow Simone to somewhat garner interest and find a window to bond.
Along their journey of eating and drinking, a lot of their conversation lingers on to discussions of past relationships, and conflicts with their family that have never been resolved. Although Sav and Simone would consider themselves different people, they begin to realize that they fill a role in each other’s lives that just might help them cope with their past. “Meeting You, Meeting Me” is very much about that friend that appears at just the right time. Although Sav may or may be Simone’s friend for only a season, she’s also probably there for a reason, too. Lina Suh brings the best out of both of her stars, composing a compelling and often engaging drama with occasional shades of comedy here and there.
Enough can’t be said about Annika Foster and Sam Yim, both of whom truly lend the film a heart and soul that is just riveting. “Meeting You, Meeting Me” is a thoughtful meditation on growing up, and taking on new challenges all the while learning to let go. It’s a stellar indie drama that I hope garners bigger acclaim during its festival run.