Cosmic Candy

OCD-affected Anna has a routine, and she’s comfortable with it: she goes to work at the local supermarket, comes home to her apartment, accumulates exercise equipment, and gets her kicks through her favourite effervescent confection Cosmic Candy. That, plus medication, helps manage both her disorder and her nightmares about her father’s mountain-climbing death. But when her neighbour’s daughter Persa comes knocking at her door, her own father having disappeared under shady circumstances, Anna is forced to vacate her comfort zone and take on the mantle of caregiver and friend for a young lady possessed of a personality wildly different from her own. As the police, Anna’s colleagues, and others begin to close in on the new friends of circumstance, Anna must sleuth out Persa’s family, gain some much-needed youthful lightheartedness, and ultimately seize her own independence.

In COSMIC CANDY,, Greek director Rinio Dragasaki makes her feature debut with aplomb, demonstrating delicate control over every element of her film. Pastel-infused production design and a bouncy, percussion-heavy score take inspiration from the popping candy that gives the film its title, while a judicious dose of psychedelia and magic realism creates a subjective view of Anna’s world. Playing the anxious Anna and bubbly Persa, Maria Kitsou and Pipera Maya make a captivating pair, as their characters engage in adventure and misadventure, forging a unique bond somewhere between platonic and maternal. Exploring the frivolities of youth, the difficulties of mental illness, and the delicacies of French toast, the quirky COSMIC CANDY, like its namesake, is a sparkling burst of optimism in the face of profound gloom. – Andrew Todd