Cosmic Candy

About a socially awkward woman who finds herself forced out of her comfort zone when she unexpectedly has to care for her neighbour’s young daughter, Cosmic Candy is a very confident debut from writer/director Rinio Dragasaki. It has a really distinctive sense of style (Punch Drunk Love feels like a definite influence), and does a solid job of being charmingly odd without drowning in quirk. A lot of the credit for this belongs to Maria Kitsou in the main role — she brings a lot of depth to a character who might have otherwise come off as one-note prickly. Pipera Maya is just as good as the child at the centre of the story; the endearing chemistry she has with Kitsou goes a long way towards making the film work as well as it does.

*** out of ****