Abel: Press reviews

'Tender and affecting.'

'For a feature debut, this is an impressive piece of work: elusive, dark and finally moving'

'The script, co-written by Luna and Augusto Mendoza, requires delicate handling; the director gets the tone, and changes in tone, just right'

'An accomplished debut as a feature director with this enigmatic satirical nightmare'

'An eccentric and somewhat disturbing comedy of delusion. At its heart is a superb performance by Christopher Ruíz Esparza as a nine-year-old Mexican boy'

'confident, highly promising directorial debut'

'A pleasingly unsentimental but affecting study of a kid whose behaviour is both a consequence of and a catalyst for family tensions fuelled by outmoded notions of masculinity. Engrossing, intelligent fare.'

'It's all very well played, and funny and sad in turn. Christopher Ruíz-Esparza is Abel, portrayed with the straightest of faces, and Karina Gidi as his worried but hopeful mother is excellent too. '

'Luna's commitment to simply telling the story is admirable – he doesn't set out to dazzle with first-timer embellishments. But Abel is blighted by limp plotting and anaemic characters, leaving it as flat as a steamrollered tortilla. '