Nico and Dani

I completely missed the boat on this one - KRAMPACK (a.k.a. NICO & DANI) is an excellent film. To temporarily ditch any pretense of objectivity, this was very nostalgic - my adolescence was a good bit more modest, but the experiences and conversations (even the summertime setting) at many points through this film hit close to home. I won't rehash the plot, which is well-covered by previous reviewers here, but I will say that the film really gets the mix of unease and anticipation right in depicting the evolving relationship between Nico & Dani. On this front, it's a five-star gay-themed drama.

The performances are quite expressive and naturalistic - no movie-of-the-week feelgood speeches appear here, and none are needed. The slightest changes in expression (contrast Nico's responses to Dani through the first 2/3 of the film, to his responses during the last 20 minutes or so) convey great warmth and understanding, giving him the ability to reaffirm his friendship with Dani (in a 'positive' statement greater than any speech) even as they both understand by film's end that the dynamic of their friendship won't ever be quite the same.

On this note the film does have something to offer anyone - it's universal without getting saccharine, and deeply committed to the humanity of its' characters. There aren't any complex philosophical or political undercurrents here, but none are needed - the respect and graceful treatment afforded to two ultimately different characters are more than adequate. A fine flick.

Nico travels from Barcelona to visit his friend Dani at his summer home. Dani's parents are away. The two teenagers, like all teenage boys share their interest in the physical aspects of sex. Dani becomes more than casually curious with regard to his friend, Nico. Nico does not quite get the picture, nor does Dani for that matter. Dani becomes displeased with Nico's persistent attempts to seduce a girl. The outcome of this summer experience is that both boys discover something about their own particular erotic inclinations. Nico's straight preference is unmoved by Dani's obvious physical desire and attraction to him. Dani confirms his own preference for other males in a kind of "half way" encounter with an attractive young male friend of his father. Nico returns to Barcelona. The two part as friends, their friendship apparently unaffected by their different sexual preferences. This film is warm and entertaining and a sensitive and respectful meditation on human sexuality and human development. In all honesty, I cannot agree with those who compare this film to "Beautiful Thing." In "Nico and Dani" there is no pathos, just experience. There is no real sadness or depression, just a normal struggle to find one's own self. That is the happy ending of Nico and Dani. They part as friends, each having discovered, without ambivalence, their true sexual selves.

Teen age sexual awakening is at the center of "Krampack". This tremendously frank account of a summer in the lives of two friends who are spending their summer vacation in the home of one of them in Spain. The film proves to be a winner because it presents a situation from the point of view of the young men, instead of from judgmental adults.

Gay Cesc, the Catalan film director, made a good movie about how sex plays a key part in the lives of the two young school mates. The film is made even better by the no-nonsense approach Mr. Cesc gives the film.

Fernando Ramallo is Dani and Jordi Vilches is Nico. While Nico wants it to be the summer where he loses his virginity, Dani has problems of his own as he discovers that he is attracted to men and has to struggle with his new discovery. Both these young actors are totally believable, giving excellent performances, wisely shaped by Mr. Cesc's direction.

This is a refreshing look at a thorny issue, which the director handles with total frankness.

The film is just a story, but it's very, very good storytelling, and I'd be hard-pressed to explain why it's so good. It has to do partly with the fact that at first we think we know right where it's going, and that the worth will be in how it gets there -- we're amused by Nico's interest in girls, he's obviously gay (right?). What makes the Dani and Nico characters so believable is in the handling of the material, and the very smart decision to not really define anything. It's very realistic about the first sex between boys, and how it so often has to do with sex games (here, masturbation tips).

Before we have a clearer handle on the (differing) sexuality of the two characters, their sex seems to play like this: they see girls, they get aroused, and they take out their sexual frustration on each other. And that works because of the two characters' subtle manner -- Dani's creepy preening, Nico's goofy charm, and how at first it's Nico who seems to be the most "gay" of the two boys, simply because he has precise features and is abnormally skinny. (Like "Edge of Seventeen" or "Beautiful Thing," two of the best gay self-discovery films, the boys here look real.) The emotions, and the past histories of the characters -- like the man whose house Dani goes to, or the woman who, too, had a special girl friend when she was young -- are kept appropriately inexact.

Aside from the talent at passing along this story, there is also a nice feel the film has -- something like a cross between the accessibility of a Western and the human interest of Ingmar Bergman... It's like a funky road trip, with that harmonica music and the very apt photography, as well as the suggestive intertitles of dialogue that will occur later in the film. A comparison between this and "Y tu Mama Tambien," of the following year, would not be in vain. 8/10

The really attractive aspect of this movie is the sympathy for all the characters, not just the two boys who form the mainspring of the action. This covers familiar territory - adolescent growing pains, sexuality, friendships, etc - without once being condescending. I showed to this to a Thai friend and his comment was simply, 'this is a true story. it happens to so many boys in Thailand" Not just in Thailand I might add. The film is fluent, unsensational and quite superbly acted in a very naturalistic style. It is more explicit than the not dissimilar Amice Per la Pelle (Friends for Life) from Italy, but in a similar league. I won't bother with the details of the story since many reviews cover them: but the person who found it offensive and only about sex must have seen another movie. This is a film about growing up, about real relationships boasting super locations, tender moments, a few amusing ones and above all no false emotions. BB