A dark twist on the 'body-swap' comedies of yore...

Mexican actor, Diego Luna's fascinating directional debut, Abel, tells the story of a mentally ill nine year-old boy who becomes convinced he's the man of the house when he returns from the hospital for a trial week at home.

No longer able to stay in the women's ward, Abel's mother is distraught when told he might need treatment further afield in Mexico City Hospital. Convinced his mother's love and the reassuring natural presence of his brother, Paul, and sister, Selene, will cure him, she's given a week to see if his new surroundings will prompt an improvement. Within a day, Abel is miraculously talking again, but what he utters is rather puzzling.

Initial signs of Abel's deluded belief that he's the man of the house afford moments of surreal light comedy as he fixes the toilet; takes up the good parent's nightly rounds of putting the children to bed; ticks off his sister for a poor report card; corrects homework; performs twenty questions on his sister's date and asks to take the car out for a spin. When it comes to his mother Cecilia however, there are disturbing undertones. Giving his mum a lolly ring and putting on his absent father's baggy pyjamas are one thing but when he tries to get intimate with her, viewing becomes uncomfortable in a scene reminiscent of Birth - thankfully dealt with far more tastefully with a cutesy resolve.

We're never told exactly what is wrong with Abel but the cause is attributed to his father abandoning the family to work in “Gringoland”. It's no surprise then that the family's new, bizarre-yet-manageable existence becomes unstuck when their hyper-critical father suddenly returns from the US without warning. The entrance of Anselmo highlights the many problems the family have – poverty, crippling medication bills, Anselmo's lies and Cecilia's secret infidelity. Amid all this, Anselmo's vanity and refusal to indulge his son, reminds the family he's actually a sick child - on the two occasions Abel's father act is questioned, Abel becomes catatonic, feverishly scratching at his skin or headbutting the wall.

Abel's refusal to recognise his real father, allows him to continue living in a dream where the family unit is functional and unbroken and he's no longer mentally ill. Constructing his paternal stereotype from old movies he tries to make amends for his untrustworthy drunken real life father and at times actually appears to be the most composed family member, touchingly promising his brother: “I won't leave ever again”. Unfortunately the scene where he does try to take complete control of Paul's well-being shows how helpless Abel truly is.

From such promise, a swimming-pool climax scene is followed by the film unfortunately withering away to the predictable ending you're undoubtedly praying to avoid. The only possible light at the end is Abel's final lolly stick, perhaps symbolising that his delusions may have passed.

Partly autobiographical in memory of Luna's diseased mother, who died when he was two, Abel takes on some of the jokes from 80s' 'body swap' comedies, and twists the humour by using a delusional nine year-old boy. Abel's unknown child lead plays a difficult ambiguous character with phenomenal skill opposite his real-life younger brother who also gives a convincing performance as a child rekindling his relationship with his older estranged sibling. Amid slapstick music, there are plenty of both moving and funny moments creating a fine balance between comedy and drama.

Director: Diego Luna
Writer: Augusto Mendoza
Executive Producers: Gael Garcia Bernal, John Malkovich
Running Time: 85 mins
Certificate: 15
Starring: Christopher Ruiz-Esparza, Geraldine Alejandra, Karina Gidi, Gerardo Ruiz- Esparza, Jose Maria Yazpik

Abel goes on release in the UK on January 7th 2011

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