Krampack-Nico & Dani

Krámpack supposedly means mutual masturbation, so it goes without saying that the U.S. theatrical release would be retitled with the names of the two best friends who shamelessly do so. That said, the film is SO far removed from the typical American teen fare, like American Pie, that the unusual degree of friendship between the two boys is but a small part of the overall European-ness of the film.

The boys have known each other since grade school but are now just past puberty, and their minds are filled with sex, Nico obsessing about his Adam's Apple and his need to lose his virginity, and Dani entranced by his best friend. Dani is just plain sexy, and he knows it. At first it seems like a collision course, but as might be true for the adolescents they are, they start and end as friends. Both learn that they can be the objects of sexual desire -- and the comfort that this brings to a teenager -- but that their sexual paths are diverging.

The movie is well written and achingly sincere, more so than Trick or Get Real, both of which had a Fairy Tale (pardon the pun) quality about them. This film lies closer to the French films Wild Reeds and Full Speed than these. In Nico and Dani the passion seems real, and there is sour with the sweet.

The Spanish seacoast location is gorgeous, as are the characters, who are hardly stereotypes for the most part. The two guys are believable as 16-year-olds (even though about 20). For this reason my rating is a 9, well above the 7+ average rating that is current.