Abel

Guaranteed to be something you've never seen before, Abel, helmed by Mexican actor Diego Luna making his feature-directing debut, is the tale of a psychologically troubled nine-year-old boy who imagines he is the head of his fractured family. It's a bittersweet, if slight, story, buoyed by a winning and heartfelt performance by non-pro Christopher Ruiz-Esparza in the title role. As the film opens his mother is taking him home from a mental institution where he's been for the last two years. Then something remarkable happens: He takes over the household. He imagines his siblings are his children and his mother is his wife. It creates the opportunity for some amusing comic bits such as when he sits down at the breakfast table and reads the newspaper. Straddling some dangerous Oedipal territory, Abel sleeps next to his mother, climbs on top of her for a second, pretends to share a cigarette, and then the next morning announces to his "kids" that the stork left a note and is bringing them a baby brother ... hollywoodreporter.com