Feeling like a poor Greek imitation of My Life as a Dog, this story of a boy who loses his father during the US moon-shot fails to garner emotion or interest.
Yorgos Karayannis is the 10-year-old star, playing a boy who refuses to fully accept his father's death in a car accident. His mother, older brother and uncle are lost, unable to do anything but watch as Elias continues to live as though his father will be back from his sales route any day. His delusions continue to grow, even as American astronauts are launched toward the moon. Eventually, Elias adopts his father's voice in private games and pens letters to his grandmother, assuring her that everything is all right.
It's not until his father fails to keep the promise of watching the moon landing with Elias that the boy is willing to accept his death, and even then it takes some effort. The film plods along without any sense of progress or story and scenes meant to be emotionally laden fall as flat as pita bread, until we lose all investment with Elias.
First-time director Penny Panayotopoulou tries to tackle a touching story, but simply lacks the skill in either coaching actors or guiding pacing to pull it off.