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Directed
by: Cesc Gay
There
have been a slew of gay-themed films over the last several
years dealing with teens' sexual explorations, i.e. "Edge
of Seventeen", "Wild Reeds", "Beautiful Thing", etc. Although
"Nico and Dani" is a well-paced and likable Spanish film,
it's really nothing that we haven't seen before.
It's
summer break and Nico (Jordi Vilches) is going to spend several
weeks with his childhood friend Dani (Fernando Ramallo). Dani's
parents are away on a trip, so they can pretty much do whatever
they want, and being teenagers, what better way to spend the
summer than going to the beach, drinking booze and going out
to parties. The boys have been best friends for a long time,
and they can confide in each other about anything, that is
until things get a bit complicated. They meet two girls, Elena
and Berta. Elena likes Nico, Nico likes Elena, Berta likes
Dani, but Dani likes Nico. The two friends begin to drift
apart as Nico spends more and more time with Elena, and Dani
is left behind.
"Nico
and Dani" is really well-paced. Things just happen as they
come along, like those summer vacations we had when we were
younger. Everything seems to be genuine in this film, and
this has to be credited to the excellent young cast. They
all exhibited that sincere innocence as they discover love
and sex. I also liked the fact that not everything is conveniently
resolved in the end. These kids have their whole lives ahead
of them, and the film gives us the feeling that they will
look back at this summer with lots of memories and lessons
learned in life. The screenplay for the film, though not highly
original, is quite gratifying. I wish I could say the same
for the other gay-themed films released over the years. Just
because they have good-looking guys on the screen, that does
not mean that they can forego on a decent script.
"Nico
and Dani" does not delve into the characters into any great
depth, but the film is still quite enjoyable and poignant.
I would also just like to recommend Andre Techine's excellent
French film "Wild Reeds" (1995), with a more complicated and
intelligent look into the same subject.
The
film is not rated, but there are scenes of sexuality and some
nudity.
Mazzyboi
Mazzyboi's
Movie Reviews
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