Director: Mads Matthiesen
MPAA Rating: R
There’s been a slew of feel good movies coming out this year, most of which debuted during this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and Mads Matthiesen’s debut feature film Teddy Bear fits safely into that trend. Based on a short film also from Matthiesen, Teddy Bear features a heartfelt story, along with a stellar performance from the film’s lead, Kim Kold. It’s the perfect blend of comedy and drama, and while the storyline itself is nothing special, it’s the uniqueness of the characters that make this film worth your time.
Kim Kold plays Dennis, a 38-year-old Danish body-builder who lives with his mother in their small house. Dennis realizes that it’s time for him to grow up and find a partner, although he has a hard time with women. Upon a friend’s suggestion, Dennis decides to travel to Thailand in order to find love.
As the title implies, Dennis is a big teddy bear. This, more than anything, is the highlight of the film. Any preconceived notions the viewer may have towards giant body builders being big, gruff, tough guys goes right out the window within the first 20 minutes of the film. Dennis is a reserved, well-mannered, polite guy, who the audience can immediately relate to, and root for throughout the duration of the movie.
An interesting dynamic that was added to the film to help us understand Dennis, and maybe a clue as to why he seemed like such a man-child, was his odd relationship with his mother. From early in the film, we see that his mother is extremely overbearing and the two are entirely too close to one another. This becomes a large part of the film’s overall theme, of Dennis moving on with his life, and getting himself out from under his mother’s thumb.
On the technical side, this was a good-looking film. While the cinematography wasn’t anything groundbreaking, it served it’s purpose and conveyed the look of both Denmark and Thailand very nicely. The film had a very documentary-esque feel to it, using a lot of handheld cameras and following Dennis fairly closely on his journey. One thing the filmmakers highlighted was showing just how huge this guy is, and many of the camera shots accentuated this. Showing Dennis in the foreground sitting next to his mother, let us know just how big this dude actually is, and it worked very well.
Teddy Bear is a simple, yet expertly told story about growing up, finding your voice, and falling in love. It’s a relatively light film, which makes it accessible to a wider crowd, and while it may drag slightly at times, there’s not a whole lot to complain about with this movie. It’s the type of film that’s just designed to be liked, and I would love to see a sequel to this film, catching up with Dennis a few years down the road. One movie certainly doesn’t seem like enough to contain this guy.
