Krámpack (2000)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Cesc Gay

Writers:

Tomàs Aragay (writer)
Cesc Gay (writer)

Release Date:

2 February 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

This year's most provocative coming-of-age story with a TWIST

Plot:

A Spanish coming of age story focusing on the antics of two 17 year olds, who have a posh beach house almost all to themselves one summer. This is also a summer of sexual awakenings.

Plot Keywords:

Beach | Summer | Coming Of Age | Tutor | Friend

Awards:

11 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Fernando Ramallo	...	Dani
Jordi Vilches	...	Nico
Marieta Orozco	...	Elena
Esther Nubiola	...	Berta
Chisco Amado	...	Julian
Ana Gracia	...	Sonia
Myriam Mézières	...	Marianne
Muntsa Alcañiz	...	Madre de Dani
Mingo Ràfols	...	Arturo
Pau Durà	...	Mario
Eduardo González	...	Camarero
Gaelle Poulavec	...	Chica
Jesús Garay	...	Padre de Dani
Eloi Yebra	...	Manu
Jordi Sánchez

Also Known As:

Nico and Dani (USA)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content, some drug use and language - all involving teens.

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Catalan | Spanish | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | Argentina:16 | Chile:14 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Netherlands:12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Castelldefels, Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Company:

Messidor Films

Soundtrack:

My Baby's Gone

8/10

The film is just a story, but it's very, very good storytelling, and I'd be hard-pressed to explain why it's so good. It has to do partly with the fact that at first we think we know right where it's going, and that the worth will be in how it gets there -- we're amused by Nico's interest in girls, he's obviously gay (right?). What makes the Dani and Nico characters so believable is in the handling of the material, and the very smart decision to not really define anything. It's very realistic about the first sex between boys, and how it so often has to do with sex games (here, masturbation tips).

Before we have a clearer handle on the (differing) sexuality of the two characters, their sex seems to play like this: they see girls, they get aroused, and they take out their sexual frustration on each other. And that works because of the two characters' subtle manner -- Dani's creepy preening, Nico's goofy charm, and how at first it's Nico who seems to be the most "gay" of the two boys, simply because he has precise features and is abnormally skinny. (Like "Edge of Seventeen" or "Beautiful Thing," two of the best gay self-discovery films, the boys here look real.) The emotions, and the past histories of the characters -- like the man whose house Dani goes to, or the woman who, too, had a special girl friend when she was young -- are kept appropriately inexact.

Aside from the talent at passing along this story, there is also a nice feel the film has -- something like a cross between the accessibility of a Western and the human interest of Ingmar Bergman... It's like a funky road trip, with that harmonica music and the very apt photography, as well as the suggestive intertitles of dialogue that will occur later in the film. A comparison between this and "Y tu Mama Tambien," of the following year, would not be in vain. 8/10