Diego Luna certainly isn’t afraid to challenge himself. The actor made his first foray into directing with the documentary J.C. Chavez and has now turned to fiction for Abel, which will open in the UK on January 7th. Christopher Ruiz-Esparza (a mere 9 years of age at the time of filming) stars as Abel, a young boy whose confounding behaviour and refusal to speak has landed him in a mental health facility. His single mother is convinced that a reunion between Abel and his younger brother and older sister would be the answer to repairing his condition, so she arranges for Abels doctor to release the boy for a single week. Abel starts speaking the day after returning home but the joy of the mother quickly turns into confusion as the child starts speaking and behaving as a fully-grown adult – her missing partner. Not wishing to worsen his condition the mother and the siblings go along with Abels unorthodox, strange behaviour. But then his father decides to show up
Disturbing, surreal and darkly funny, Abel deals with an important issue in Mexico – parental absenteeism – increasingly common as many Mexican men abandon their families to find work in the United States. Click below for the trailer.