Nico and Dani.

A new gay coming-of-age film from Spain nails the awkwardness of adolescence just right

Nico and Dani * Written by Cesc Gay and Tomas Aragay * Directed by Cesc Gay * Starring Fernando Ramallo, Jordi Vilches, Marieta Orozco * Avatar Films

All things considered, 17-year-old Dani should be happy--his parents are away for the summer, leaving him alone in their gorgeous beach house with best pal Nico, and two of the cute girls in town are giving the guys the eye. But Dani (played by Fernando Ramallo) is starting to feel weird about Nico (Jordi Vilches), wanting to be around him all the time, jealous of Nico's success with Elena (Marieta Orozco), and eager for their nightly krampack (mutual masturbation) sessions. This is going to be the summer of Dani's life, all right, but not exactly in the way he predicted.

Spanish director Cesc Gay's Nico and Dani is being called "the Spanish Beautiful Thing," but this comedy veers closer to adolescent reality than the romantic flights of fancy contained in the delicious British film. Don't get me wrong--Beautiful Thing was great; it's just that the formula is starting to become another Gay Movie Cliche: terribly cute teenage boy realizes he's gay, suffers through coming out, is rewarded by getting studly boyfriend, all while sarcastic (and usually overweight) female pal cheers him on. Everyone Gen X and older may be a little envious of these Joey-reading out teens, but there are only so many times we need to tell this specific story, this specific way.

Thankfully, this new film avoids playing by the numbers and follows its own dead-on instincts. For one thing, neither Nico nor Dani can understand, let alone articulate, exactly what's going on between them. Instead of using Dawson's Creek-esque speeches that sound like 30-something writers putting words into the mouths of their teenage characters, Nico and Dani stays true to how teenagers really communicate, featuring lots of awkward silences and abrupt evasions. The one key scene in which Dani, stumbling over his words and his feelings, tries to articulate his desires to Nico happens only because there is a locked bathroom door between them.

Interestingly, the film traces the boys' exploration of carnality step by step, to the point where Nico is ready to stop while Dani is clearly interested in proceeding further. Some gay viewers may question whether ostensibly straight teens are that willing to do the mess-around, but an informal survey of straight acquaintances--particularly in Catholic countries like Spain, where young women's virginity is often fiercely guarded--reveals that sex games between straight guys do occur outside of gay porn.

The screenplay is well served by the film's two stars. Ramallo, a cutie who's quite a popular young actor in Spain, ably shoulders the sexual confusion and excitement of Dani, who tries to figure out his feelings for Nico and flirts with the possibility of seducing the hunky writer (Chisco Amado) who lives down the street. The character of Nico is no less complex--for once, the straight guy doesn't flee in terror or turn violent, he just begs off with "I have a headache"--and the distinctive-looking Vilches inhabits the role so completely, you'd never guess that he's never acted in a movie before.

Also terrific are the supporting performances, all the way down the line, and the gorgeous, sunny cinematography. If there's any area in which Nico and Dani drops the ball, it's the irritating score by Riqui Sabates, Joan Diaz, and Jordi Prats--bad music in the nightclub scenes feels realistic (oh, what those Europeans will listen to sometimes), but the film's score is jarring and off-kilter throughout.

Whether gay audiences will respond to Nico and Dani as strongly as they have to such recent coming-of-age movies as Beautiful Thing and Edge of Seventeen remains to be seen, particularly because the film eschews epiphanies in favor of the slow, tentative steps taken toward accepting and understanding one's sexuality. Nonetheless, Nico and Dani is a funny and bittersweet tale of growing up gay, with a subtle and unforgettable closing image that lets audiences leave the theater without having the talented filmmakers tie everything up neatly.

Find the official American and Spanish Web sites for Nico and Dani at www.advocate.com