Title: Teddy Bear

Rating Synopsis: 3/5 So, this is the first Dutch film I’ve ever seen and although I tried to watch a couple of others afterwards, I get the feeling I’m missing something culturally that would help me understand Dutch films better. The shortfalls include the cinematography, audio, and a few scenes of dialogue. Again, the actors did a good job, but I do feel like I need to watch Kim Kold in another film (presuming he’s been in one) to gauge his character development in this film. Despite these minor things, the issue I had with the film was purely one of personal preference: the male character was written to be such an emotional, sensitive, shy guy yet was played by a giant of a man aka Kim Kold. It was so hard to believe and/or get past the complete abandonment of gender expectations. As you’ve read before, I LOVE a good movie that is written to screw up the obsession we have with gender binary, but his relationship with his mother threw off the chemistry between he and the female protagonist. . That being said, again, he did a great job with what he was given and I understand that this is the point of  the movie (he’s a big “teddy bear” hence the title), but I felt like it took me too long to get used to the idea of a virginal body builder with an awkward level of attachment to his mom and by the time I was thoroughly entrenched, the film was over. It’s a cute movie and reasonably PG. The three stars were earned for originality of the story line, low production cost to film quality ratio, and just for adorableness. It’s easy to understand as well, so if you are new to foreign films this is a good place to start!

Year: 2012

Stars:  Kim Kold and Lamaiporn Hougaard

Country/Language: Denmark-Danish w/English Subtitles

Where to watch: Netflix