Tom_Nashville

In this little 53 minute film, a Romanian boy named Nico sets off on an adventure in Hawaii. First, there are no earth shaking adventures to report on. Then, as another reviewer alluded to, you have to forget about logic to watch this story. Things like: why is a 15 year old Romanian boy flying alone into Hawaii, with no one watching over him, no apparent place to stay, no money, and his only objective seems to be to "go to the beach"! Is this normal for Romanian boys? Some kind of rite of passage into manhood? I can hear the phone call now, ... "Hey Mom, it's Nico, guess where I am!" In the background we hear the boy's father yelling "Did Nico run away again?!" So, put away all these kind of thoughts and just enjoy the little film. It's worth the 53 minutes just to watch Nico Almasan. I did not know it would even be possible to find a 15 year old boy, anywhere, that is as sweet as this one. And, I truly believe Nico was just being himself. Watching Nico is like watching a puppy dog at play. Who doesn't love that! I think the word "cute" sums up this film, for me at least. So, Nico being alone in Hawaii, meets a young local fellow named James, who takes Nico into his care and shows him around the islands. These are the adventures. James tell us that Iki Haole is a Hawaiian term meaning "little foreigner". There is a little drama in the story at the end, and we are not sure how it will play out. This film was made in 1995, and I sincerely hope that Nico has grown up to be a happy, healthy and successful adult, wherever he is.

This is a basically simple story capturing a period of time in "high society" life one hundred years ago in Austria. It was a simpler time, when people enjoyed reading books, cars were amazing big machines, and most people traveled about in horse and carriage. The principal characters are the Baron, the veteran actor Klaus Maria Brandauer, the mother, Faye Dunaway and playing the 12 year old son, David Eberts. To me, almost every scene in this film is like a post card or a beautiful painting. The atmosphere of Austria in winter; the wonderful old hotel and spa. The beautiful music by Hans Zimmer also added to the mood of the film. Faye Dunaway was literally breath taking. When she walked into the Hotel lobby every head was turned to watch her. I expect that was not acting, but a natural reaction by everyone there, to a beautiful woman coming into their presence. Handsome young actor David Eberts was perfect in the role of Edmund. The director, Andrew Birkin, wisely uses many extreme close ups of David's face and the kids' big brown eyes. Edmund was a lonely boy looking for a friend to "hang out" with, or a surrogate for his father who apparently didn't have much time for him. The mysterious Baron filled the role, taking an interest in this wonderful boy while all the time noticing how beautiful his mother was. All of the characters of the story, like everyone else in life, have their own emotional or physical problems to deal with. The Baron would tell stories to Edmund, and the boy was totally mesmerized by everything the Baron said. Again, the close-up shots of Edmund capture that intense attention he was giving the storyteller. As the Baron drew closer to Sonya, the mother, Edmund began to change, and was hurt and feeling betrayed by "his" new friend. In a key scene, Sonya said to the Baron "Edmund will go away from me, not because of you, or me, or even because he wants to, but because he must." One of the stories the Baron told Edmund was "Erl König", the Elf-King, by Goethe. In the end, a father holding his son, realizes the "kind war tot", the child was dead! The child Edmund was now becoming less dependent on his mother, and in fact as with the actor David Eberts, was growing away from childhood. The child was dead.

I loved just about everything about this film, and I won't go into many details about it, there are plenty of reviews here. If you have not seen this film, you just need to do that, assuming that you like good quality movies and not dumb, or dumber stuff. Don't get me wrong, it's good to just have a good laugh now and then. But basically, this movie revolves around the story or legend of the Beast of Gevaudan region of France from around 1766 era, just a decade before my country was formed in America. The cinematography is incredible. In my opinion, France is one of the most beautiful countries on the planet, whether now or 250 years ago. How can you ever go wrong making a film there? I knew nothing about this fascinating story until several years ago while watching the Tour de France, of all things! The race commentators were discussing the legend of the area where the bikers were rolling through at the time. It totally intrigued me and I did a little research about it, and bought a book, but as you may observe from the film and reviews, there is much confusion or "folklore" about what may have really happened there. To me though, that only adds to the suspense of the story. One thing that is known for sure, there were victims, but they couldn't tell anyone the true story! The real reason I wanted to review this though, is to mention the beautiful music of the film, and in particular after the end credits start rolling. I tell people this all the time: please don't rush out at the end of a movie or turn off the DVD, until you give the closing music a chance. I have heard and enjoyed some of the most beautiful music ever created at the end or during a movie. For this one at the end credits I implore you to listen to Felicia Sorenson sing the song "Once", (soundtrack by Joseph LoDuca). You will not be sorry. Absolutely beautiful!