Valentin

A cute-as-a-button Argentinean boy longs for his mother, is confused by his childish father and tolerates a quirky grandmother guardian in this sporadically touching but flailing film from writer-director Alejandro Agresti. The movie almost gets by on the strengths of young Rodrigo Noya as the title character, but it’s so cloying at times that it feels like purchasing a ticket is a mandate to find it adorable, or else. Eight-year-old Valentin lives with his grandmother in 1969 Argentina, and he’s asking a lot of questions. Who and where is his absentee mom? Why does his mostly absentee dad go through girlfriend after girlfriend? What’s so funny and impossible about wanting to be an astronaut? Intriguing questions, yet Agresti doesn’t really provide substantial answers to any of them. The movie amounts to one vignette after another of Valentin acting like a grown man in a little boy’s body, displaying more intelligence than the adult population surrounding him. Some of these vignettes are amusing, but most are annoying, and they fail to comprise a cohesive story.