A Danish tourist, Pelle (Jon Lange) is in Texas with a couple friends. They are at a Mexican chain-type restaurant where they flirt briefly with the waitresses, one whom forms a quick bond. Veronica (Melonie Diaz) claims not to be able to pronounce Pelle's name so nicknames him Milhouse from The Simpsons cartoon TV show character (Milhouse is sort of a geek/milquetoast) after they have some repartee about that show. Pelle in turn nicknames her Lisa, also a character from The Simpsons, and they address each other with these names throughout this story.
Pelle gets a message from a friend at home, Soren (Christian Tafdrup), who has gotten a job for him, so Pelle decides to cut his vacation short as his vacationing friends move on. He changes his flight but has a day more before his flight leaves, so Veronica/Lisa and her roommate invite Pelle to a party, after which Pelle/Milhouse stays the night since he has nowhere to stay. He and Veronica have some casual sex and bond a little over the next day or so, but Veronica often reminds him about the impermanency of their relationship, and gets him to get in a cab to return to the airport.
Unfortunately a tragedy happens and despite Veronica's knowing very little about Pelle (not even his real name) she impulsively goes to Denmark, and manages to get inside his apartment. His friend Soren is dismayed to learn the bad news and can't seem to get over it. He seems to have his heart on his sleeve in a way about Pelle. Soren embellishes Veronica's relationship to Pelle's parents, making her more important in Pelle's life than she was.
This movie, about 20-somethings in casual relationships, doesn't feel like a lot of films with that description. Yes, there is nudity and a bit of toilet humor, but a lot of the script is unexpected in a sense that is emotionally real, especially when we see the casual emotions of the first half of the film turn quite deep for a few of the characters in the second half. Although there are some elements that feel like typical romantic drama stuff, I think that most of the story does not have a Hollywood feel. This is in essence a domestically made film, but it does have a very foreign film feel in its portrayals of the characters' reactions.
The scenes taking place in America seem a little more forced but the action between Veronica and Pelle feel like that of typical 20-somethings. The emotion shifts halfway in the movie of course and then becomes a Veronica/Soren relationship where they both deal with their loss. Although Veronica continues to stress to herself that the relationship was fleeting, she can't help but feel deep emotions about it all, especially when enabled by Soren's heartfelt emotions as well. At times I wondered if Soren was perhaps a closeted gay man who never revealed to his friend his true feelings about him. There are some aspects about him and stories told about him that make me create these assumptions, but it can easily also be that he is just an overly emotional person who had a strong friendship.
I find this one hard to define (as was apparently in the few other reviews I found) but I liked the film. It was made in 2008 when Melonie Diaz had a few films out and was beginning to be noticed, but I don't think she has had a true breakout yet.
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