Life for little Valentin (Noya) is literally anything but over the moon for the space travel-obsessed eight-year-old.

Firstly, his dreams of recruitment as a NASA astronaut seem to be foundering under the watchful eye of his cranky, widowed grandmother.

Secondly, his oily cad of a father keeps introducing him to unsuitable girlfriends while all the time he really wants to know where his mother has disappeared to.

Sanctuary from the evasiveness and half-truths of life with gran comes in the form of lovelorn piano teacher Rufos (Urtizberea) across the road.

Noya's Valentin, who has the look of a a sort of pre-pubescent Ronnie Corbett, is cute - a little too cute - as the curious only child delving into his family past.

While most of the narrative and plot is so slight it would fall over in a gust of wind there are references to the Argentinian right-wing old guard and entrenched anti-semitism.

However, these are never allowed to get in the way of a story that's just a little bit too sweet for its own good.

There's only so many shots of a cross-eyed kiddie in flannel shorts that can elicit the "bless" factor and director Alejandro Agresti piles them on.

The romantic denouement ties things up nicely but the comparisons with Cinema Paradiso voiced by some afficianadoes are little more than wishful thinking.

Tim Evans