The old trope of the gentle giant looking for love gets a spare-looking, kind-hearted sprucing-up by Danish director Mads Matthiesen. Dennis (Kim Kold) is a bodybuilder, his astonishing physique made all the more fearsome by a set of tattoos snaking over him like body armor.
But Dennis himself is tongue-tied, yearning for a woman but hobbled by inexperience and a mother who snuffs out every tiny bid for independence. When the diminutive Mama harangues Dennis for coming home late, it’s like watching a Pekingese intimidate a mastiff. Played with passive-aggressive gusto by Elsebeth Steentoft, the character takes her place in the pantheon of movie-mom gargoyles.
Intrigued by a nerdy uncle (Allan Mogensen) who’s come back from Thailand with a beautiful bride, Dennis arranges for his own trip there. Unsurprisingly, given that he can barely navigate a dinner date, the come-ons Dennis encounters in Thai bars scare the wits out of him.
He retreats to his safe place, the gym, and meets and falls for Toi (Lamaiporn Sangmanee Hougaard), the gym’s widowed owner. Alas, bringing a girl home to Mama is no light matter for poor Dennis.
It’s wonderful to see an actor like Kold take over a screen not with his body, but with quiet, precisely calibrated facial reactions, often using just his eyes. This wispy story is distinguished by its sweetness of spirit, and it comes straight from Kold.