teddy bear ( 2012 film )
after finishing film school mads made his first feature “teddy bear” (2012) the film premiered at sundance film festival in 2012 where mads won the “best director” award in the “world cinema dramatic competition”. the film was nominated for the european film academy’s “european discovery” award and was a big festival hit around the world winning a dozen of awards. it was sold for theatrical release to more than 20 countries .
a boy and his x: rather, a man and his teddy bear .
silver bear for best short film: atsushi wada﻿' s the great rabbit .
crystal bear for the best feature film: reis çelik' s lal gece .
be a little boy as long as he has his teddy bear with him ...
unusually uninteresting sight: after 27 years, nobody is surprised that a living teddy bear exists .
teddy bear - 2012 plot: the 38 - year - old bodybuilder dennis would really like to find true love. he has never had a girlfriend and lives alone with his ...
the narration claims that the stupid, evil child robert grew up to be taylor lautner (even though the film takes place in 2012) .
looking for movie tickets? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing teddy bear near you .
seth macfarlane may be going to court over a teddy bear. according to thr, a california production company called bengal mangle productions has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the comedian and universal over the concept behind his hit 2012 film ted, claiming that the vulgar womanizing teddy bear character was stolen from their 2008 screenplay - turned - web series called acting school academy and charlie the abusive teddy, which starred a strikingly similar teddy bear named charlie and got over 1. 2 million views on youtube, facebook, itunes, funny or die, and vimeo .
cologne, germany - sundance entry teddy bear - a danish drama about a shy bodybuilder looking for love; the dutch children' s film kauwboy and the german drama reported missing are among the titles in the running this year for the european film academy' s european discovery 2012 - prix fipresci, the efa' s newcomer honour .
ted' s name refers to the fact that he' s a teddy bear and is a less diminutized version of
teddy ,
indicating that he' s an adult .
from its title to its closing caress, teddy bear skates perilously close to the cliff' s edge of mawkish sentiment .
kavorka man: ted had sex with numerous attractive women despite being, well, a teddy bear. with no penis .
the winner of the european discovery 2012 honor will be announced at the efa awards ceremony in malta on dec. 1 .
leno device: ted appears on the tonight show with johnny carson after being revealed to the world as a living teddy bear .
bathroom humor meets courtroom drama in
ted 2 ,
seth macfarlane' s sequel to the hit 2012 comedy about a hard - living, foul - mouthed teddy bear brought to life by a wish from his best buddy, john (mark wahlberg) .
“teddy bear” is the first feature by danish director mads matthiesen. the film features a cast of non - actors led by bodybuilder kim kold and will be presented in the world dramatic competition .
seth macfarlane voices teddy bear ted and mark wahlberg plays hisbest friend, john, in
ted 2 .
( universal pictures )
movie review -' teddy bear' - a put - upon hardbody, but a' teddy bear' at heart mads matthiesen' s teddy bear, starring real - life bodybuilder kim kold, mixes fairytale tropes and tender non - professional performances to tell the story of dennis, a stunted mother' s boy who flees home looking for love. he ventures to thailand, where he finds kindred souls. (recommended )
i loved this movie. it' s a monument to humanism that never strikes the wrong chord. teddy bear deserved a much larger audience .
indiewire invited sundance film festival directors to tell us about their films, including what inspired them, the challenges they faced and what they’re doing next. we’ll be publishing their responses leading up to the 2012 festival .
and i’m proud to be portuguese: for miguel gomes’ tabu (the most beloved film at the festival), winner of two awards, and for joão salaviza’s rafa, winner of the short film golden bear. salaviza won the short film palm d’or in 2009 with arena .
matthiesen and his cast have created a believable space, and that ultimately helps give teddy bear the tension of a fine suspense film once kold sits down across the kitchen table from steentoft to speak his mind at last .
all young john wants is a true friend for life. for christmas, his parents give him an enormous teddy bear the size of a first grader, and that night under the sheets with a flashlight, john asks teddy to be his real and true forever friend. teddy comes to life and agrees .
film movement, sf film production & beofilm present; [ visit films ]; a film by mads matthiesen; instruktor, mads matthiesen; manuskript, mads matthiesen / martin pieter zandvliet; producer, morten kjems juhl .
set in contemporary denmark and in thailand, mads matthiesen' s teddy bear is a sweetly muted domestic drama struggling to contain a fierce and ancient folk tale .
the international short film jury — emily jacir, sandra hüller and david o' reilly — has awarded the daad short film prize to trevor anderson for the man that got away and the berlin short film nominee for the european film award to justine triet' s vilaine fille mauvais garçon (two ships). ﻿
mads was born in 1976 in copenhagen, denmark. he has a ba in comparative literature and rhetoric from copenhagen university. he graduated as director from the danish film school “super16” in 2008. mads’ first film school project the short film ”mum” (2006) was selected for the 63. venice film festival in the official program “corto cortissimo” 2006, and his second film school project “dennis” (2007) premiered in the competition program for short films at sundance film festival 2008 .
silver bear for best actress: rachel mwanza ﻿ for her performance in war witch .
a slender but disarming danish film about a painfully shy bodybuilder looking for love. twitter
you' ll feel the warmth and camaraderie of a bostonian and his little sentient bear .
silver bear for best screenplay: nikolaj arcel and rasmus heisterberg ﻿ for a royal affair .
dennis and toi’s (lamaiporn hougaard) endearing relationship was engaging to watch. teddy bear delves into those tender moments and an ending that makes all the awkward moments surrounding their relationship worthwhile watching .
grand prix of the deutsches kinderhilfswerk for the best film: boudewijn koole' s kauwboy .
this article is related to: reviews and tagged l. a. film fest, review
plot developments that hint at an emerging thriller by suggesting that emma is becoming dangerously obsessive about her relationship with the sought - after photographer fizzle out too quickly, leaving the narrative to rely on palm’s relative inexperience as it plumbs the depths of emma’s despair. fans of matthiesen’s low - budget debut feature teddy bear, winner of the 2012 sundance world cinema directing award, may miss that film’s gentle humor and low - key charm, here replaced by high - strung drama and glitzy posturing .
special mention — it comes with a silver bear — goes to ursula meier' s sister .
born of magic: ted was just a normal teddy bear whose owner wished for him to come to life with seth macfarlane' s most overused character voice. unfortunately for everyone involved, reality ensues .
there' s also peril involving donny, a creepy dad (giovanni ribisi) who as a child passionately wanted ted to be his own teddy, and his pudgy spoiled son (aedin mincks), who wants ted now. their desire is pitched at such a perverse level that it approaches teddy - bear predation .
“teddy bear, ” like dennis, is understated and of few words. but, again like dennis, this makes it all the more powerful when we realize what it’s trying to say. [ a - ]
best feature 2012: srdjan dragojevic' s parada (the parade). 2nd place: daniele vicari' s diaz - don' t clean up this blood. 3rd place: cao hamburger' s xingu .
teddy bear is not the most substantial film, but it has a restrained charm and an emotional payoff in keeping with its prevailing understatement. as dennis stands up to his mother, claiming the right to happiness in his familiar laconic way but with new purposefulness, he acquires a kind of strength previously unavailable to him .
subverted kids show: tying in with the theme of growing up the film presents in the opening .
patrick stewart' s jab at superman returns at the end. this might be motivated by bryan singer leaving the x men film series series (where stewart plays professor x) to make the film .
this film is not currently playing on mubi but 30 other great films are. see what’s now showing
too dumb to live: yeah, let a teddy bear who is simultaneously high off of cocaine and drunk give you a five finger fillet. ted has a point when he says the guy never should have trusted him .
notebook is a daily, international film publication. our mission is to guide film lovers searching, lost or adrift in an overwhelming sea of content. we offer text, images, sounds and video as critical maps, passways and illuminations to the worlds of contemporary and classic film. notebook is a mubi publication .
teddy bear is mostly a light - hearted film with thoughtful undertones in the difficulty of familiar relationships. unfortunately, these areas aren’t explored in depth. kold’s acting is convincing throughout the movie and gives an impressive performance. dennis is a fantastic character study that aims at the sentimental understanding of the sometimes demanding choices real people may make. the film truly focuses in on his desires and expertly highlights the obstacles that surface in these relationships .
though ted takes a few lumps (and it' s more a sissy fight than anything), it' s inevitable they couldn' t resist having john getting his ass handed to him by a cute little teddy bear .
inverted in that lori is the one who wants to get rid of ted, while the people who want to kidnap him are male. the general public seems to be about even in their interest in a living teddy bear .
offered by vodafone - 1. 500 euro (the full amount goes to the director of the film )
seth macfarlane may be going to court over a teddy bear. according to thr, a california production company called bengal mangle productions has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the comedian and universal over the concept behind [... ]
great movie, it looks like it could be a documentary film, that' s how life like the film is. the movie proves that sometimes a man needs to travel to another country to find true ...
throw in the fact that quite a few significant voice actors from family guy have notable roles in this film .
special prize of the deutsche kinderhilfswerk for the best short film: billie pleffer' s b i n o .
the main character is the manager of a sport club, nicknamed
teddy bear
by his friends and acquaintances. one day he is detained at the border just as his sport team is off to a... see full summary »
i loved this movie b / c of the main character, petersen, who is kind and good. i routed for him and the acting was so good that i really believed all the people were real! teddy bear is the right title .
the laughs in
ted
come largely through the teddy bear' s dialogue. with an edgy beantown accent and a potty mouth, ted insults and offends everyone he comes into contact with, and sees lori as a threat to his friendship with john. this despite his own pastimes, which include drugs, hookers, and as we later discover, a torrid early 1990s affair with absolutely the last female vocalist you could imagine having sex with a teddy bear — and i mean the last .
mundane fantastic: ted is treated as a normal person who just happens to be a teddy bear (much like brian griffin on family guy). after 25 years, he' s now a faded celebrity as the novelty has mostly worn off .
the film unapologetically warns us at every turn that fashion is nothing but a business, fueled by naiveté and rape .
my name is sandy + aidy hoffman. i am the creative writer and film reviewer of the aidy reviews website .
offered by evenimentul zilei - 1. 500 de euro (the full amount goes to the screenwriter of the film )
all five titles come with a strong festival pedigree. teddy bear won the world cinema' s best director prize in sundance; kauwboy and reported missing debuted in berlin, where kauwboy took the best first movie award in the generation kplus section; broken premiered in cannes and twilight portrait has scooped up multiple festival honours, winning the best director prize in thessaloniki, the golden puffin at the reykjavik international film festival and the grand prize for best film at the cottbus festival for young eastern european cinema .
he' s right, of course. that' s what women do in these romantic comedies with foul - mouthed wastrel teddy bears .
when john said he wished he had gotten a
teddy rux - fuckin' - pin
for christmas instead, ted loses it .
dennis (kold) has an unhealthy relationship with his controlling mother, ingrid (elsebeth steentoft). film movement hide caption
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offered by the national cinematography center - 5. 000 euro (the full amount goes to the director of the film )
the silver bear for an outstanding artistic contribution goes to director of photography lutz reitemeier ﻿ for his work on white deer plain .
so rarely have i ever been quite beautifully claw hammered by a movie than i was by the 1965 film, who killed teddy bear? it’s one of those films that can leave you slack jawed over what you have just seen and all the while it just seeps further and further into your consciousness. it’s been days since i last watched it and i still cannot stop thinking about it .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
what' s remarkable about
ted
is that it doesn' t run out of steam. macfarlane seems unwilling to stop after the first payoff of a scene. he keeps embellishing. in ted, he has an inexhaustible source of socially obnoxious behavior and language, and it' s uncanny the way a teddy bear can get away with doing and saying things that we wouldn' t necessarily accept from a human character. this is partly because ted is a stand - up insult comedian trapped inside the body of a teddy bear .
mads matthiesen (b. 1976, copenhagen) began dabbling in direction while still a student of comparative literature and rhetoric at copenhagen university. he became more widely recognized after graduating in 2005, when his short films began turning up at a variety of international festivals, including venice, berlin, and sundance. the success of dennis (2007) was a turning point in his career: after screening at sundance it won numerous awards and became an internet hit. his next film, cathrine (2008), competed in the generation section at the berlinale; it was later screened at moma in new york. teddy bear (2012), which develops the theme of matthiesen’s short film dennis, is his first feature. he was awarded for direction in the world cinema - dramatic category at sundance .
bodybuilder dennis (kim kold) and gym owner toi (lamaiporn sangmanee hougaard) share a tender moment. film movement hide caption
a very funny comedy with a very obscene humor, which curiously doesn' t come out offensive from a teddy bear' s mouth, but it is also surprisingly warm and sincere, showing ted as a complex character and making him totally believable with a flawless animation job .
a shared image that circled the internet at the time of the movie joked about how males were lining up to see a movie about a teddy bear, whereas women were lining up to see a movie about strippers, magic mike, which had been released at the same time .
where the phrase “ teddy bear ” implies a certain squashy cuddliness, the film’s subject is anything but. at least on the outside. but, then again, bears aren’t that cuddly in real life either. danish director mads matthiesen developed this feature from his acclaimed 2007 short, “ dennis, ” which began his exploration of the emotional resonance of an ultra - masculine figure in an incredibly emasculating situation. in the full - length version of the story, the man’s humiliation and powerlessness evolve into the quiet self - confidence of a person who has found acceptance. upon peeling back this teddy bear’s layers of fur, we begin to see the soft cotton that gives him his true shape .
he' s still afraid of thunder through most of the film and needs to sing a song to help him cope with it .
she believes john when he says that it' s from the notebook, indicating that she hasn' t seen that film either .
the village voice' s stephanie zacharek, on the other hand, concedes up front that
some movies are indefensible, and' ted 2' is one of them. not only is this a movie about a libidinous, foul - mouthed stuffed bear; it' s the sequel to an earlier movie about a libidinous, foul - mouthed stuffed bear. but i laughed and laughed at' ted 2' — as i did at the 2012' ted' — and i can hardly tell you what that says about me, let alone about you .
who killed teddy bear? is a brave film that gives you no easy answers. sadly, it didn’t really do a thing for anyone that was involved, career - wise. mineo did continue to do film, tv and theater work, including staging a controversial version of the prison drama fortune and men’s eyes that featured a young don johnson. all of that was cut short in 1976, when he was murdered by a drifter. elaine stritch continues to be a monolithic character actress on broadway, film and tv. juliet prowse, jan murray and daniel j. travanti, who has the small role of carlo, marian’s deaf bouncer, all went on to have healthy careers in television. the same could be said for director joseph cates, though perhaps that is the biggest shame given that he never was given the chance again to direct anything as nuanced and challenging as who killed teddy bear? . in an ideal world, this film should have forged a different career direction for cates and certainly for mineo, whose wounded eyes and brutal actions are hard to forget. who killed teddy bear? is ripe for proper rediscovery. it’s a mystery why this great film is still not available legally on dvd here in the us. (it did get a release in the uk, though that appears to already be out - of - print .) it is viewable on youtube, for anyone who does not have access to the uk, pal formatted disc. hopefully, it will someday get the proper release that it so justly deserves .
demoted to extra: john' s co - workers alix and tanya' s sideplot is omitted from the film' s final cut .
teddy bear
is a good film but not a great one. it was made in denmark by mads matthiesen and stars real - life bodybuilder kim kold. it is the first feature film for both matthiesen and kold, telling the story of a man approaching age 40 but still trying to break free from the domineering power of his mother. the most striking thing about the film is the contrast between the main character' s physical power - - he truly looks like the hulk - - and his emotional powerlessness. i very much liked this study in contrasts and the examination of contradictions that often come with hyper - masculinity. i also liked the hints at the end of why the mother and son are so deeply bonded. i won' t reveal the surprises. i' ll just say that the man' s devotion to his mother appears more comprehensible in the end. but
teddy bear
never really takes your breath away. it' s absolutely competent but not much more than that .
best documentary 2012: matthew akers' s marina abramovic the artist is present. 2nd place: malika zouhali - worrall and katherine fairfax wright' s call me kuchu. 3rd place: namir abdel messeeh' s la vierge, les coptes et moi (the virgin, the copts and me) .
the funniest movie character so far this year is a stuffed teddy bear. and the best comedy screenplay so far is
ted ,
the saga of the bear' s friendship with a 35 - year - old manchild. i know; this also was hard for me to believe. after memories of mel gibson' s bond with a sock puppet ,
ted
was not high on the list of movies i was impatient to see .
died of lou gehrig' s disease. earlier in the film, john says to rex that he hopes he gets lou gehrig' s disease
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
offered by the romanian cultural institute - 15. 000 euro (the amount will be equally shared between the director and the majority producer of the film )
film rests solely on his big shoulders. the title says it all; nail biting to see a man with this power be a scared little boy .
park city – the title implies something adorable but also soft, and it’s the avoidance of that latter quality that makes teddy bear a pleasurable character study. danish director mads matthiesen ’s feature expansion of his much - lauded 2007 short film, dennis, recounts a gentle giant’s struggle to overcome crippling shyness and take hold of his life. in other hands, the material might have drowned in cute quirks, but matthiesen’s unadorned observational style has a distinctly scandinavian stoicism that trusts both the comedy and sentiment to emerge organically .
i have never written a review on amazon after thirteen years of having an account. i don' t have the words to say how much this film touched me .
rufus norris'
broken ,
german drama
reported missing
and russian film
twilight portrait
are also in the running for efa' s newcomer honor .
dennis' graduation to adulthood makes a touching, often funny story, its protagonists' awkward decency enhanced by the stiff performances of the mostly non - pro actors. as a love story, though, teddy bear is a touch thin, perhaps because the warm heart it wears on its sleeve keeps cracking to reveal buried domestic horror. talk about something rotten in denmark .
ted opens in 1985 in a wintry boston so full of violence and prejudice, narrator patrick stewart tells us, that a jewish kid immediately joins a band of irish - american antisemites in tormenting the film' s lonely eight - year - old hero, john bennett. john gets a large teddy bear for christmas, christens him teddy and wishes that he could come to life. which he does, not as an imaginary friend of the kind we all have had or as an invisible rabbit like harvey, but a real - life
thunder buddy
to console him at anxious moments. ted immediately becomes a national celebrity, and in a glorious montage we see his rise to fame, his scabrous repartee causing johnny carson to collapse with laughter on his tv talk show. but as with everything else the audience gets bored with the novelty of a talking bear and ted' s popularity is short - lived .
a pleasurable character study [ teddy bear ] has a restrained charm and an emotional payoff. - - hollywood reporter sweet and steady... you want him to find love [ and ] it all pays off - - christopher campbell, indiewire sweet and steady... you want him to find love [ and ] it all pays off - - christopher campbell, indiewire
the film itself is a powder keg of beautifully moody b & w cinematography and the grimy underbelly of the human condition. the opening credit sequence alone sets the tone, featuring a blurry undulation of bodies as a little girl watches, clutching her cherished teddy bear. she turns away, only to fall down the stairs, with her face now suddenly blank, as if she is dead or brain damaged. without a breath of relief, the actual film starts in a cramped, shadowy bedroom, complete with a nightstand littered with lurid publications, featuring titles like french frills and when she was bad. a mirror reflects the image of a man caressing his bare chest while looking at photos of norah, right before calling her up .
“the film very much deals with different perspectives of love. it is about the love between mother and son, in contrast to the love dennis is seeking in a female partner .
exclusive: when i was covering toronto, the big talk was all about deals for completed films. but the one script buyers were talking up was the imitation game, graham moore’s heralded screenplay about alan turing, the english mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist who single - handedly helped crack the german “enigma code” during world war ii that helped the allies stave off defeat. in a competitive situation, teddy schwarzman’s black bear pictures has come aboard to finance production of the film, with schwarzman producing with ampersand pictures’ nora grossman and ido ostrowsky, with moore exec producing .
the miracle of a walking, talking teddy bear of course makes the little stuffed creature an overnight celebrity, and he appears on the carson show. but his fame fades (
like corey feldman ,
the narrator explains), and he settles in as john' s roommate for life. years pass. teddy is now a little frayed, and john (mark wahlberg), at 35, has a counter job at a rental car agency. against all odds, he also has a fragrant girlfriend named lori collins (mila kunis), who has been waiting four years for a marriage proposal .
' s
romance versus bromance
plot is familiar, but the film' s held aloft by the high - concept central premise and a very funny (albeit inconsistent) script .
when ted is kidnapped, he' s shown to be no more durable than any other teddy bear when the villains cut his ear off and tear him in half. what makes it weird is that earlier, ted beat the shit out of john with ease, although this could be justified as john and ted were hitting each other with blunt force whereas in this fight he was attacked with sharp objects .
a significant portion of the film’s focus rests on dennis’ home life and meeting intimidating women in thailand before it arrives at substantial plot developments–the film sort of drags a little before the poignant scenes. especially when dennis was out touring hectic pattaya–causing a huge deal of anxiety for him; the thai girls were overly interested in dennis’ herculean physique, putting a damper on his ideals of love .
the story recounted in teddy bear is about feeling like an outsider. i have always been fond of portraying people who do not fit in that well with society. what prejudices do we harbor when confronted with a tattooed, muscle - bound man? at any rate a hard, emotionally stunted individual – and hardly a vulnerable, shy, affectionate person with an overly close relationship with his mother. likewise, there are many prejudices against men who travel to thailand in search of love. in teddy bear i attempt to play around with people’s prejudices, and turn them upside down. for things are seldom as they appear from the outside … the film portrays different aspects of love. a mother’s clinging love for her son and also the very different pathways love between men and women can take in denmark and thailand. people in the west have other criteria when they seek love than purely financial considerations. in thailand a woman has to find a husband who can support the family. therefore poor girls head for pattaya to find a western man who hasn’t been able to find love back home. teddy bear is about love, and the search for happiness. it is about the bonds, healthy and unhealthy, that we create with the people we are fond of. and it is about dennis, who has to learn how to pursue happiness according to his own needs, and not allow himself to be dictated by his surroundings .
winner of the best director award at sundance this year, teddy bear is your usual son - under - the - thumb - of - mum story except this time he is a gigantic ageing real - life bodybuilder called' dennis'. it' s a lovely and delicate tale of identity / masculinity and overcoming ones obstacles be they physical or mental. a great example of low - budget filmmaking. 4 stars
the theatrical campaign for ted, seth macfarlane' s hit comedy about a salty talking teddy bear, won the top gong at the 41st annual hollywood reporter key art awards. the ceremony, which celebrates the best movie ad campaigns, dished out its gold key art award for ted' s integrated campaign and also awarded gold in the print category, for the billboards and one - sheet teaser posters depicting ted and best buddy mark wahlberg variously swigging beers on a couch and urinating with their backs to the viewer. another poster announced :
ted is coming
, and showed a possibly - masturbating bear behind a laptop .
after young john announces that his teddy bear has come to life, his parents assume he' s playing and dismiss him. then when ted walks out of the bedroom and says hello, they freak out and john' s dad tells his mom to get his gun and call the police. the do warm up to him after a few minutes, though. once it' s clear he' s not gonna hurt anybody .
the first silver bear, the jury grand prix, goes to bence fliegauf' s just the wind. (last year, this prize went to a hungarian as well, to béla tarr for the turin horse. )
moore is repped by caa and managed by tom drumm of the safran company. his attorney is fred toczek. caa put the financing together and will rep distribution rights. attorney alan wertheimer repped the producers and schwarzman for black bear .
family guy creator seth macfarlane brings his boundary - pushing brand of humor to the big screen for the first time as writer, director and voice star of ted. in the live action / cg - animated comedy, he tells the story of john bennett (mark wahlberg), a grown man who must deal with the cherished teddy bear who came to life as the result of a childhood wish... and has refused to leave his side ever since. - - (c) universal
what’s it about? “teddy bear” is about the 38 year old dennis and his trouble with finding love. dennis is a bodybuilder: 6’7 feet tall, 308 pounds of raw muscle power. despite his rough appearance, he is a very shy and insecure man. dennis has problems with finding love and believing in himself. he lives with his mother in a tight and unhealthy relationship. the film deals with dennis and his attempt to break free from his mother and make it on his own. when dennis’ uncle returns from thailand with a thai wife, dennis decides to travel to thailand on a quest for love. maybe in thailand, far away from his mother, he can find the courage to begin a relationship with another woman .
i must end on a note of warning .
ted
is not merely an r - rated movie, but a very r - rated movie —
for crude and sexual content, pervasive language and some drug use ,
according to the mpaa, and what they mean by
some
is hard to figure, because it could hardly contain more. no matter how much kids want to see the teddy bear movie in the ads on tv, steer them to
brave .
trust me on this .
not exactly a movie about lurid sex tourism, though coming awfully close, the film does risk credibility at times with a protagonist so out of touch, that he seems to hardly have a clue about the difference between hookers and potential housewives .
first he needs to deal with his mother, ingrid (elsebeth steentoft), a wisp of a woman with sharp features and a bitter affect. a tiny, proud beauty, ingrid lords over the small, drab house she shares with dennis, her only child. the two live in a colorless quarter outside of copenhagen, but they also bicker and overshare in that realm known as the contemporary art film, at that junction where lives of quiet desperation meet the cinema of sobriety. by this i don’t mean that anyone is a teetotaler in “teddy bear, ” though dennis’s breakfast slurry of nuked nutritional powder and egg whites is punishingly spartan. it’s only to say that the movie’s no - frills realism derives from common aesthetic strategies like hand - held cinematography and nonprofessional acting .
the bodybuilder kim kold doesn’t loom over the world of “teddy bear, ” a low - key danish drama about saying hello to love and goodbye to dear old, horrible mom, he towers. as dennis, the movie’s emphatically noncuddly title character, mr. kold has a diffident manner that appears at odds with his outrageous physical size and his character’s expert exhibitionism. a hulking contradiction tucked under a stratum of ropy muscle, his dennis is at once massive and passive, as big as a house and shy as a mouse. he needs to roar .
though the budding relationship between this odd couple is sweet and heartening, “teddy bear” is not really about their romance. it isn’t really a romance at all, but a coming - of - age (at a very late date) story, an account of the changing interactions between dennis and ingrid. it’s their relationship that takes center stage in the first and third acts, in a structuring device where toi nearly becomes the other woman. this focus creates a heartrending, and sometimes disheartening, film. the mother - son relationship is full of devastating moments, and the consequences of the mother’s suffocating neediness — the effects it has on her son — are especially painful to watch. in more than one shot, we see dennis standing alone, framed in silhouette, as he views the bustling world around him .
as for
ted 2' s
critical reception, we have a bit of a hung jury. some critics appreciate or at least give in to the film' s onslaught of risque humor, while others say it' s unamusing and out of touch .
bowdlerise: the japanese version premiered a pg - 12 version of ted in july so that younger audiences could watch, toning down and cutting out the film' s more raunchy parts. however, the uncut r - 15 version is still available for the older audience to see .
paolo and vittorio taviani' s caesar must die has won the golden bear at this year' s berlinale. the other awards, presented by mike leigh and his international jury (anton corbijn, asghar farhadi, charlotte gainsbourg, jake gyllenhaal, françois ozon, boualem sansal﻿ and barbara sukowa) :
these observations are provoked by some very sniffy and patronising reactions to the calculatedly provocative film ted. it' s the big - screen debut as director, co - writer and co - producer of seth macfarlane, author of the popular, envelope - pushing american tv series family guy and american dad. i found this weirdly disturbing movie funny in both of the senses referred to in the 1945 british film the rake' s progress. told by her suave english lover rex harrison that she' s funny, the austrian refugee lilli palmer asked :
funny ha - ha or funny peculiar ?
black bear launched early last year, and is a producer of broken city, the allen hughes - directed drama that stars mark wahlberg, russell crowe and catherine zeta - jones, with emmett / furla financing and fox distributing. black bear also produced the ramin bahrani - directed at any price with dennis quaid and zac efron, with sony pictures classics releasing; adult childen of divorce, the comedy that stars adam scott, richard jenkins, amy poehler, jessica alba and jane lynch; and all is lost, the survival tale written and directed by margin call ‘s j. c. chandor, with robert redford starring .
“brideshead revisited” took nearly two years to film; its editor, anthony ham, estimated that half a million feet of footage was shot, only 26, 000 of which ended up in the finished product. small wonder, then, that the cast and crew practically smothered mr. sturridge with silly string when shooting wrapped .
from its title to its closing caress, teddy bear skates perilously close to the cliff’s edge of mawkish sentiment. dennis (kim kold), a sweet but emotionally stunted 38 - year - old danish bodybuilder, lives in a state of arrested development with his deceptively birdlike little mother, ingrid (elsebeth steentoft), who’s sunk her talons deep into him and has no intention of letting go. just one hollywood - style speech, with dennis ranting about being a boy in a man’s body or railing about how the need to overcompensate drove him to create that hulking carapace, would have blown this lightweight contraption right over that cliff, but director mads matthiesen lets kold’s cartoonish body and sweet face tell the story .
as shooting dragged on, there were further snags. mr. irons popped off to film “the french lieutenant’s woman. ” on the bonus section of the new 30th anniversary “brideshead” dvd released by acorn media, ms. bloom (lady marchmain, sebastian’s mother) can be heard muttering, “i’ve been playing this part too long. ”
the series’s lush evocation of a bygone era of english high living was infectious. in new york, bloomingdale’s unveiled display windows of “brideshead” - inspired fashions. young men emulated sebastian by toting teddy bears they named aloysius. a new yorker cartoon depicted a woman introducing a dowdy middle - aged companion: “this is my cousin sebastian. but, of course, not the sebastian. ”
directed by mads matthiesen from a schematic screenplay by him and martin pieter zandvliet, “teddy bear” is a largely likable tale about a 38 - year - old man - child trying finally to grow up. when the movie opens, dennis is having a nightmarish presumptive first date with a bored chick who listlessly picks at him and her food. dennis explains that he’s a professional bodybuilder, but that he has to work in security to pay the bills. from the way he hides out for a spell in the men’s room, his heavy head listing toward the sink as if he were about to retch, it seems obvious that this isn’t his first lousy match. he brings to mind an easter island statue teetering and nearly toppling .
i really enjoyed this movie, it is understated and gentle with a really likable performance from kim kold as this giant bodybuilder who' s just trying to break free from his domineering mother who guilt trips him into taking care of her even if it means destroying dennis' chance at creating his life and achieving happiness on his own. what' s great about the performance, at least from dennis' mother, is that she' s not over the top, her manipulation is far more subtle and therefore that makes her more effective as a character since she plays the character in a believable manner. and that' s the strength of the film, the fact that a lot of the actors cast were pretty much unknown adds believability to the proceedings. as mentioned kim kold is has a very likable presence and he does a great job at carrying the film, especially for someone who is as inexperienced as he was at acting. while the character is very much a teddy bear, i think the character isn' t as simple as that, he' s far more complex at least in the way how he leads a sheltered life as to not upset his mother. a lot of people may not like the movie because it may be slow and when you watch the film it doesn' t seem like a lot happened, but i found it interesting and it has some really good storytelling but, again, it' s more subtle and understated. it' s still a very sweet and gentle story, but it doesn' t beat you over the head with it. the movie could' ve used more comedy, but that' s hardly a complaint. i really enjoyed this movie, it isn' t perfect but it is damn good .
“it’s hard to pinpoint one single challenge that was the hardest while doing this film. one of them was definitely the fact that i wanted to work with “real” people in the cast. most of the actors in the film are real people (“non actors”) casted in the environment we were filming. the bar girls in thailand are real bar girls, the men around them are the real people who hang out in these places, and of cause, kim kold, the lead actor, is a real professional bodybuilder. working mostly with amateurs was a big challenge but also a gift, because you get a great deal of authenticity when you work with real people in real environments .
was it good television? mark broughton, the author of a history of the show to be published this year by the british film institute and palgrave macmillan, thinks so. he called the mini - series “far more effective” than waugh’s novel because it better revealed the damage done to jeremy irons’s character by a deceptively charming, immensely wealthy family .
the crunch comes when lori and john return from a dinner celebrating the anniversary of their first date to find ted carousing with three hookers, one of whom has defecated in the corner of the living room after playing truth or dare. the bear must go, and he' s found a job at a supermarket where his every outrageous depredation is followed by a forgiving promotion. but he constantly leads john astray, most notably attracting him to an orgiastic party attended by their hero, the minor movie star sam jones, who played flash gordon in the 1980 film version of the comic strip. the two are enthralled by the popular culture of the 1980s, and ted has an encyclopaedic knowledge of films and tv .
in one of the more favorable reviews, the times' rebecca keegan writes ,
while' ted 2' is absurd and occasionally disgusting, it is also wickedly funny .
macfarlane and wahlberg
embody the comedy truths that a cute, cuddly toy can get away with anything and a boston accent is inherently entertaining ,
while the film around them is
surprisingly earnest .
still on the fence? the chicago tribune' s michael phillips calls the sequel
madly uneven
but says ,
this one' s an easy predictive call. if you got your laughs out of' ted,' you' ll likely come crawling back for' ted 2.' it' s not the same film, but it' s same - adjacent .
a jury comprising efa members helena danielsson (sweden), els vandevorst (the netherlands), pierre - henri deleau (france), jacob neiiendam (denmark), alin tasciyan (turkey), paulo portugal (portugal) and mihai chirilov (romania) selected the five films for the efa discovery award shortlist, together with members of fipresci, the international federation of film critics .
the high - pressure world of elite fashion modeling comes crashing down around an inexperienced young woman in the model, an intense psychological drama that enticingly feints toward obsessive thriller before settling into a cautionary character study. audiences accustomed to the glamour of high - fashion reality tv shows may find the film’s somber tone an adjustment, but the familiarity of the material should make it accessible in a wide variety of markets .
two striking things about this film, among others. an improbable couple is formed, a hulkish figure from the ranks of hypermasculinity meets a tiny widow from the country where many females are swept away from their innocence and cast into the tentacles of prostitution and slavery. and the middle aged western men that seek to acquire wives are strangely a vision of how tech made us closer and yet kept us far away .
dennis is so cute and shy that right from the start you root for him, hoping that he will be able to break free from his mother' s emotional oppression. the film itself is very' nordic' and restrained, only the mother loses her temper near the end. it' s not particularly memorable but it kind of made me wanna go to thailand someday (and not for the prostitutes... ! )
teddy bear ( danish : 10 timer til paradis , " 10 hours to paradise " ) is a 2012 danish film starring kim kold as a danish bodybuilder who travels to thailand to find love . the film was directed by mads matthiesen and written by matthiesen and martin zandvliet . teddy bear is based on matthiesen 's 2007 short film dennis , which starred kold in the same role .
teddy bear (danish: 10 timer til paradis, " 10 hours to paradise ") is a 2012 danish film starring kim kold as a danish bodybuilder who travels to thailand to find love. the film was directed by mads matthiesen and written by matthiesen and martin zandvliet. teddy bear is based on matthiesen's 2007 short film dennis, which starred kold in the same role.
teddy bear (danish: 10 timer til paradis, " 10 hours to paradise ") is a 2012 danish film starring kim kold as a danish bodybuilder who travels to thailand to find love. the film was directed by mads matthiesen and written by matthiesen and martin zandvliet. teddy bear is based on matthiesen's 2007 short film dennis, which starred kold in the same role.