Ciao is a simple story about two men from opposite ends of the world who meet after the random, but tragic death of a mutual friend named Mark.

The two characters, Andrea from Italy, and Jeff from Texas, bond via email and eventually meet; the key here is meet, not "hook up." This is a fully clothed character driven film that delves into the loss of a close friend.

How does it all happen? Andrea is unaware that Mark has died and sends him an email. Jeff is settling Mark's affairs and runs into the email from Andrea. Jeff replies to let Andrea know that Mark has died. When Andrea emails that he was planning a trip to Texas and has a plane ticket, both agree that he should make the trip.

Ciao is an appropriate name in that in Italian it means both hello and goodbye. While saying goodbye to a close friend the two men are saying hello to each other. They are also saying goodbye to the feeling of loss and mourning and hello to a the possibility of a new lifelong friend.

The movie explores the idea and the beauty of how when a friend dies an unexpected death (car crash), that friend can have actually set up his replacement, you just have to be open and looking.

There's no doubt that this is a beautiful touching film and quite frankly you just have to get through the first fifteen minutes to enjoy it. I remember sitting there perplexed when one of the characters summed up what had happened in the setup in about three sentences. Why did we need to watch what would soon be explained?

The film is also dark and a little grainy, undoubtedly the director was using that to convey the sense of mourning and loss. The use of not so subtle techniques like this can be annoying but it worked for Ciao.

Both of the actors playing the central characters are convincing, although the acting would never win an Oscar, even for an independent film.

Ultimately what saves the film is the sexual tension that is gradually revealed, but never acted upon. Eventually the audience is left wondering what the future holds for these two new found friends and it's all too unfortunate that we'll never know.