Little Gael Garcia Bernal's fellow actor, countryman and, I believe, good friend Diego Luno is forging a career as a director and Abel is his third time behind the lense.
As finished product Abel is very polished and shows that Luna is certainly beyond acting. And it is an interesting story (in part inspired by seeing Ben Whishaw play Hamlet no less).
Abel, a young boy, is returning home after a spell in a psychiatric hospital where he was admitted after have some sort of breakdown which resulted in his refusing to speak when his father left. Arriving home with his mother he is reunited with his older sister and younger brother but remains mute.
His doctor wants to send him to another hospital much further away but his mother is reluctant because of the distance. An incident in a playground in which Abel observes a father interacting with his son seems to awaken something inside him.
He starts to speak but he speaks as if he is a father. So surprised by this turnaround in his behaviour his mother convinces his siblings to play along.
Things go awry when real dad decides he doesn't want to play along anymore and after a big fight Abel runs away with his younger brother having promised to teach him to swim.
It is an amusing, slightly strange and sad tale with some lovely moments and the performances from the kids are pretty stunning but it never completely engages.
Rotten Tomatoes gives it a staggering 93% from 14 reviews and it isn't yet rated on Metacritic. I think I'm going to give it 65%.
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