Whenever you feature a kid in a movie, you walk a fine line between been adorable and annoying. You can’t really get one without the other, which is why I some audiences will empathize and others might tune off. In this case, the role is critical for the story so it is unavoidable. Since our main character is an outsider that needs to get out of her shell, it falls to the kid to bring her out.
Cosmic Candy was directed by Rinio Dragasaki who wrote it with Katerina Kaklamani. Anna (Maria Kitsou) is withdrawn from the world, only leaving her apartment to work as a cashier. Persa (Magia Pipera) is the outspoken extroverted kid next door. When her dad disappears under mysterious circumstances, Persa asks Anna to take her in. Anna who never warms up to anybody, is forced to interact with the child. I did love the instances in which Anna has a sugar rush depicted as a hallucination.
In case you haven’t picked up on it, I did find the adorable/annoying ratio falling more towards the negative side. However, Persa is not the most annoying one. Anna is not a functional adult, addicted to sugary candy and unable to think of others. Anything good that she does for Persa is to undo something else she’s done against her. There’s at least one instance in which the child is endangered and saved only thanks to another adult being present.
Lightly recommended for family-friendly audiences. As much as the movie is trying to portray how good it’s for Anna to have Persa in her life, the situation is really not sustainable. Anna seems like a less than adequate choice to take care of Persa. I did like the scenes in which Anna has dreams/hallucinations that feature her favorite sweet. I didn’t find their parent-child relationship endearing enough to carry the film.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 