[TEDDY BEAR
screens Friday November 30th at 9:40 pm and Saturday December 1st at
7:25 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]
Review
by Bob Ignizio
Dennis (Kim Kold) is a soft spoken
semi-pro body builder trying to find the inner strength to match his
outward musculature in the pleasant enough Danish film TEDDY BEAR
(10 Timer til Paradis,
which translates as “10 hours to Paradise”).
When we first meet Dennis, he's out on a date with an attractive
blonde woman who he met at the gym. Sadly, Dennis has no “game”.
In fact, whatever it is that Dennis has, it's the opposite of game.
That
Dennis' date doesn't go particularly well sits just fine with his
mother Ingrid (Elsebeth Steentoft), who has come to rely on Dennis
continuing to live at home and taking care of her. While this
arrangement may be convenient for mom, it's far from healthy for
Dennis, who desperately wants to cut the apron strings but lacks the
courage to do so.
Possible
salvation comes from Dennis' Uncle Bent (Allan Mogensen), who has
recently married a Thai girl. In gratitude for some heavy yardwork
Dennis helps him with, Bent offers to send the shy muscle man to
Thailand where, he assures him, the girls are much easier to talk to.
Once
Dennis arrives in Thailand (after lying to mom and telling her he's
in a body building competition in Germany), it soon becomes clear why
these girls are so easy to talk to: the broker who helped arrange
Bent's marriage is essentially a pimp, and the girls more or less
prostitutes. It's not quite what Dennis had hoped for, but not
wishing to be rude he tries to make the best of things.
In
the meantime, even on vacation a bodybuilder has to work out, and
while doing just that at a local gym Dennis meets the owner, middle
aged widow Toi (Lamaiporn Sangmanee Hougaard). The two genuinely
connect in a big way, but for the relationship to go any further
Dennis must overcome his shyness and reluctance to stand up to his
mother.
There
are no wacky hijinks, and the prostitution aspect of the story never
gets played up for its exploitation or titillation value as it surely
would have been were this a Hollywood film. The performances are all
understated and believable, and even Dennis' mom ultimately comes
across as more sympathetic than shrewish. TEDDY BEAR
isn't a big movie either in terms of action or themes, but it is a
very good small movie. It has no real aspirations beyond wanting to
tell a nice story about a nice guy and deliver a few chuckles along
the way to its nice ending, and it does just that in a satisfying way
without any cloying artificial sweetness. 3 out of 4 stars.
As published on Examiner.com
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