Nico and Dani

Remember back to your youth when times were simpler and all you had to do was think about what you'd do with your friends that day? Nico and Dani recalls that time in such a believable, carefree, almost naive way that all I could do was smile and enjoy the feeling. They do the normal things guys do like go fishing, hunt rabbits, hang out and party with friends. The actors portraying the characters (Fernando Ramallo as Dani and Jordi Vilches as Nico) even look like two average guys at 16--kind of gangly and skinny, just like I remember being back then. In short, I believed it all from the get-go.

The friendship we see is one that obviously has been built up over many, many past summers and each time I watch the film again, the more I realize just how deep that friendship is and how subtly and naturally it's portrayed. I mean, it would have to be pretty deep given that the two boys frequently have a "Krampack" (mutual masturbation session) to help each other out.

The twist in the film comes when Dani begins to realize at this time of adolescent change that he's falling in love with his best friend Nico, just as Nico is finding out how much he's into girls and anxious to go through his own rites of passage. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, doesn't it?

The beauty of this Spanish summertime story, though, is that it doesn't turn into an "Afterschool Special", a platform for gay community propaganda, or a ridiculous "American Pie"-like farce. It just continues its dreamy, easygoing pace as we watch the two boys' friendship bend--but not break. There is a wonderful balance of humorous vs. "heavy" scenes (I could watch the scene where they're talking through the bathroom door a thousand times and never tire of it) that allows for changes of mood and pauses for reflection.

By the end, nobody dies, gets put in therapy, beats someone up to prove how "macho" he is, catches a disease, has a huge, dramatic, cry-his-eyes-out scene or other predictable cliche. I was left with nothing but a peaceful, happy feeling that everything would be OK, Nico and Dani would always remain friends and that this film was worth every minute of my life's time I gave up watching it.

For what it's worth, I also dredged up my high school Spanish from the recesses of my memory and--along with my pause control and a Spanish dictionary--went the extra mile to learn what was actually being said and how (English subtitles can only get you so far...). That made a HUGE difference to my understanding (and my own education). I would wholeheartedly recommend you add this to your collection, watch the wonderful interviews with cast and director and give it a few repeat viewings just to glean all the magnificent subtlety from the story.

While not the "Perfect Film" (I'm personally a bit bothered by the boys' habit of answering nearly every important question with "let's smoke a joint", and the soundtrack does strike one as a bit goofy a couple of times), it's nearly there in my book. I think that it will strike a chord in many who have lived through similar circumstances. I would also highly suggest it for STRAIGHT boys who might be in the position of finding out that their best friend is turning out to be gay.

Fantastic acting by the main characters, gorgeous Costa Brava scenery and a compelling story of enduring friendship mean this'll be a film I'll continue to watch over and over again.

Other "Friendship/Growing Up/Coming Out" films I highly suggest: Beautiful Thing, Get Real, Edge of Seventeen (in that order...).


A very good but too brief movie   January 24, 2002
55 out of 56 found this review helpful

This is another film that has been touted as the next "Beautiful Thing," but it was not the director's intention to make a love story like that. Rather, this is a series of snapshots of a few days in the lives of two Spanish boys who are heading down different forks in the road. Though clocked at 90 minutes the movie speeds by in seemingly half that time.

Nico is coming to visit Dani at the coast while Dani's parents are away; he is intending to do the same thing he would do if he stayed home in Barcelona, went to Rome, or, for that matter, orbited in the Space Shuttle: chase skirts. Dani has begun to hear the tapping of a different drummer and has apparently had a lot of time to plan all the ways he wants to share his new interests with his long time pal. Clearly these two have been very close. Krammpack (mutual masturbation), the original title of the play, is not just something they've read about in magazines.

The movie is a series of fast moving vignettes of the two boys and the two girls they meet and interact with. They move from incident to incident quickly, not lingering long nor introspecting much about what has happened. Though the age of the two is not clear (I've read as young as 15, as old as 17) it is made clear they are both virgins and minors (in much of Europe, 16 is the age of consent).

There are some unsettling undertones as Dani experiments with sexuality, mas or menos, oblivious for some time to the fact Nico is increasingly uncomfortable with the moves he is putting on him. There is a very unsettling, for me, date rape scene, involving the hoary old concoction Spanish Fly, not the modern date rape drug DHA. The movie remains non-judgemental. Director Cesc Gay keeps things from getting too heavy both by not lingering on any one incident and with musical punctuation and title cards reminscent of silent films that foreshadow upcoming scenes. The music in the film is excellent.

Nico is played by Jordi Villachi and he is a real charmer. Though not blessed with extraordinary good looks, it is nevertheless easy to see why Dani and Elena and Berta are drawn to him. Dani is a very handsome young man, played by Fernando Ramalla with an intensity that is at times eerie. He is struggling with more difficult issues than Nico, of course, and has anticipated that he is facing almost certain frustration of his desires.

When the two go their separate ways one evening Dani, in a lover's snit, tries tarting an older man, which is a cake walk for him, but the better angels of his nature prevail.

The movie ends positively; the two's friendship survives the stresses. Nobody is thrown into therapy nor denounced from the pulpit for their misdeeds. Nico hasn't given up on chasing skirts and Dani has learned a lot about what he wants, as well as what he doesn't want. The worst that Nico can bring himself to say of his friend is that he is selfish.

I gave the movie four stars but if the system would have let me, I would have given it another 1/4 or 1/2 star, and if it continues to wear well with repeated viewing, as I think it will, I'll be upgrading my rating in a few months. Nico and Dani is not "Romeo and Julian," nor is it even "Jaime and Ste," but it's a lot closer to them that it is to American Pie, and it's a very good movie.


Terrific movie, never in America!   January 28, 2002
J Keistler (Lake Jackson, Texas USA)
48 out of 51 found this review helpful

I loved this movie. It is refreshingly NOT like American coming-of-age movies, which I avoid like the plague. The underlying tension between Nico and Dani over a summer's visit is a constant theme, one that can certainly be familiar to gay people. So much of the time, teenage gay movies either tend to be maudlin, mushy or just plain depressing. This movie is none of those. Another refreshing aspect of the film is that it doesn't try to tie all the loose ends up at the end of the film. I bought the movie and viewed it without reading all the reviews because wanted to view it fresh without preconceptions, and I won't detail it any more than this. It is light as a feather in many ways, which was what I was looking for. I bought the DVD and recommend that any other buyer look at the interviews with Cesc Gay and the main cast members after seeing the movie. Another point: the movie I received was "unrated" but I have no idea why this would even be R-rated. There was no gratuitous nudity, only a topless girl in one scene. I think the censors must've gone overboard on this one. Highly recommended.


America: Take note, this is how it is to be done!   August 25, 2002
20 out of 25 found this review helpful

Real rating: 4.5 stars

Great movie! Nothing so amazing that you will walk away wanting to move to Spain, but still a must-see! Maybe the cinematography wasn't the most impressive in the history of the big screen: but who cares? How many of us really give a bother about the 'cinematography of a film' if we come out feeling happy?

Nico and Dani (Krampack) is a great "Coming to terms, yadda yadda yadda" movie that doesn't overdo it with anything. The angst, the sex, the resentment, etc is not overdone in any part.

Had the director used gorgeous actors with rippling muscles, it too would have taken away from the film. The two characters portray with perfection: two young Spanish boys, not particularly attractive, quite awkward, and definitely not 'sexy' in the modaren-gay sense.

Nico never falls for Dani, Dani doesn't try to kill himself or gets thrown out of home: sure many of us go through a lot of bother when we come out, but sometimes it IS this easy! It definitely gives a true portayal of the socially accepting attitude Spaniards have to gay men (All about my mother was a huge hit remember!).

I got scared toward the end at the train station, I thought perhaps that the movie might take a Hollywood twist and Nico might grab Dani and kiss him! Thank goodness this is a European film, and he does not.

Definitely get this movie. It is so worth the money to see it over and over again.

Before I conclude I must mention the great supporting cast as I think noone has as yet: Marianne the Cook, Sonia the Teacher and of course Julian! (from My Mother Likes Women!). Every piece of this movie is tied together so well...can you tell I liked it?! :)


One of the very best coming of age films...   December 15, 2001
18 out of 19 found this review helpful

This is a wonderful film about two teenage friends (one gay, one straight) during summer vacation on the coast of Barcelona. I'd place this film on the same level as Wild Reeds (in other words at the very top) as far as coming of age films go. It even features a somewhat similar inconclusive ending that purposely does not wrap up the main characters situation with a neat and tidy dramatic conclusion. There is a low-key charm and naturalism to the whole enterprise and the makers resist conjuring up melodramatic plot contrivances or even comic set pieces, opting instead for an atmospheric slice of life of the two teens and their seaside town. The scenery is gorgeous and rather prompts one to start planning an itinerary to Spain and while it's true that one of the boys is somewhat homely the blonde fellow has the charisma and looks of a future 'name' star. Lastly, after seeing so many gay themed films that seem to feel the need to resort to violence to "pump up" their drama, whether Urbania, Lola and Billy The Kid, Steam, The Delta, Edge of The City, Angel, etc. etc. it's nice to see a work where no one ends up dead by the end. Bravo to all involved with this film!