MatthewJP

After the 105 minutes you spend trying to figure out what's going on, you will leave still wondering what was in the box and why the father returned and where he was before he returned. That is a deliberate manipulation of the audience. It's an old trick designed to make the film appear profound and artful. This film is neither profound nor artful because the story is unclear. If you want to tell me something, then be clear about it.

The acting is good. The problem with this film is the writing and the directing. Save yourself time and money and wait for it to show on TV. Then perhaps you won't feel too badly about wasting your time and money because you can turn it off. Here is my advice to the writer and director: do not try to manipulate your audience, and go back to school.

The first hour is a complete waste of time. The dialogue is meaningless. There really is no story, and if there is a moral, I missed it. The casting is all wrong. This was a potentially interesting film. Her part was exceptionally boring. I am sorry I wasted my time. I gave it a "4" just to be polite.

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.