Diego Luna’s directorial debut comes in the form of ‘Abel’. Produced by Gael Garcia Bernal and John Malkovich, Abel is dubbed “a darkly funny and poignant film about parental absenteeism in Mexico on 7th January 2011″.
No stranger to the big screen, cinema-goers will remember Luna’s performances in Academy Award winning and nominated movies such as ‘Milk’, ‘Frida’ and 2001’s critically acclaimed Mexican Drama, ‘Y tu mama tambien’ (“And your mother too”), where he received an award for best actor.
Abel will open at selected cinemas including Curzon Soho, Vue Shepherds Bush, Filmhouse Edinburgh, Bristol Watershed and Showroom Sheffield. In addition, Diego Luna will be doing Q&As for Abel at the Filmhouse Edinburgh on Thursday 6th January , The Curzon Soho on Friday 7th and the Cornerhouse Manchester on 8th January 2011, so don’t miss out!
Here’s the synopsis:
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 Abel’s 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 Abel’s 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.
Abel is released in UK cinemas on Friday 7th January, 2011.
