It’s rare to see someone on the verge of action-figure metamorphosis. Until now, Diego Luna was a well-respected actor (“Milk” and “Mister Lonely,” among many others) as well as a producer of TV and film, including his own directorial efforts “Mr. Pig,” “Cesar Chavez,” and “Abel.” He’s better known in his native Mexico than in the U.S.
However, as the male lead of Gareth Edwards’ “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” the first standalone feature in the rapidly expanding “Star Wars” universe, all of that will change as of December 16.
He’s giddy, if not geeky, about this turn of events. A naturally generous and fast talker, Luna punctuates his points with big hand motions and bigger smiles as he shares the same refrain that seems to be programmed into all newly minted “Star Wars” actors: They were fans first. Being cast in this cinematic universe is...
However, as the male lead of Gareth Edwards’ “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” the first standalone feature in the rapidly expanding “Star Wars” universe, all of that will change as of December 16.
He’s giddy, if not geeky, about this turn of events. A naturally generous and fast talker, Luna punctuates his points with big hand motions and bigger smiles as he shares the same refrain that seems to be programmed into all newly minted “Star Wars” actors: They were fans first. Being cast in this cinematic universe is...
- 12/15/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Reviewed by Annlee Ellingson
(from the 2010 AFI Fest)
Directed by: Diego Luna
Written by: Diego Luna and August Mendoza
Starring: Christopher Ruíz-Esparza, Gerardo Ruíz-Esparza, José María Yazpik, Karina Gidi and Geraldine Alejandra
Following his short contribution to “Revolución,” Mexican actor Diego Luna makes his feature film directorial debut with this family drama about a boy who thinks he’s someone he isn’t. His delusion is revealed gradually and seems harmless . until it’s not.
After two years in a psychiatric ward for women in provincial Aguascalientes, it’s time for nine-year-old Abel (Christopher Ruíz-Esparza) to transfer to a children’s hospital in Mexico City. Before he goes, though, his mother Cecilia (Karina Gidi) convinces his doctor to let her take him home for a week, despite his violent episodes and refusal to speak. She hopes she’ll be able to prove he can behave and she can take care...
(from the 2010 AFI Fest)
Directed by: Diego Luna
Written by: Diego Luna and August Mendoza
Starring: Christopher Ruíz-Esparza, Gerardo Ruíz-Esparza, José María Yazpik, Karina Gidi and Geraldine Alejandra
Following his short contribution to “Revolución,” Mexican actor Diego Luna makes his feature film directorial debut with this family drama about a boy who thinks he’s someone he isn’t. His delusion is revealed gradually and seems harmless . until it’s not.
After two years in a psychiatric ward for women in provincial Aguascalientes, it’s time for nine-year-old Abel (Christopher Ruíz-Esparza) to transfer to a children’s hospital in Mexico City. Before he goes, though, his mother Cecilia (Karina Gidi) convinces his doctor to let her take him home for a week, despite his violent episodes and refusal to speak. She hopes she’ll be able to prove he can behave and she can take care...
- 3/4/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
Reviewed by Annlee Ellingson
(from the 2010 AFI Fest)
Directed by: Diego Luna
Written by: Diego Luna and August Mendoza
Starring: Christopher Ruíz-Esparza, Gerardo Ruíz-Esparza, José María Yazpik, Karina Gidi and Geraldine Alejandra
Following his short contribution to “Revolución,” Mexican actor Diego Luna makes his feature film directorial debut with this family drama about a boy who thinks he’s someone he isn’t. His delusion is revealed gradually and seems harmless . until it’s not.
After two years in a psychiatric ward for women in provincial Aguascalientes, it’s time for nine-year-old Abel (Christopher Ruíz-Esparza) to transfer to a children’s hospital in Mexico City. Before he goes, though, his mother Cecilia (Karina Gidi) convinces his doctor to let her take him home for a week, despite his violent episodes and refusal to speak. She hopes she’ll be able to prove he can behave and she can take care...
(from the 2010 AFI Fest)
Directed by: Diego Luna
Written by: Diego Luna and August Mendoza
Starring: Christopher Ruíz-Esparza, Gerardo Ruíz-Esparza, José María Yazpik, Karina Gidi and Geraldine Alejandra
Following his short contribution to “Revolución,” Mexican actor Diego Luna makes his feature film directorial debut with this family drama about a boy who thinks he’s someone he isn’t. His delusion is revealed gradually and seems harmless . until it’s not.
After two years in a psychiatric ward for women in provincial Aguascalientes, it’s time for nine-year-old Abel (Christopher Ruíz-Esparza) to transfer to a children’s hospital in Mexico City. Before he goes, though, his mother Cecilia (Karina Gidi) convinces his doctor to let her take him home for a week, despite his violent episodes and refusal to speak. She hopes she’ll be able to prove he can behave and she can take care...
- 3/4/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
The gifted young Mexican actor Diego Luna made a major impression in Alfonso Cuarón's Y tu mamá también and went on to play the baby-faced, Hispanic cowhand in Kevin Costner's Open Range and Sean Penn's lover in Milk. Abel, his confident, highly promising directorial debut, centres around a striking performance from Christopher Ruíz-Esparza as the eponymous nine-year-old lad, a seriously disturbed patient released from a hospital in a provincial Mexican town into the custody of his mother pending his transfer to a more sophisticated mental institution in distant Mexico City.
He has apparently not spoken since his father left to find work in the States and now watches TV throughout the night in the family's dilapidated, jerry-built house on the edge of town. Suddenly he begins to speak, which seems like the breakthrough his mother and his kindly doctor seek. But his voice is commandingly, parodically paternal...
He has apparently not spoken since his father left to find work in the States and now watches TV throughout the night in the family's dilapidated, jerry-built house on the edge of town. Suddenly he begins to speak, which seems like the breakthrough his mother and his kindly doctor seek. But his voice is commandingly, parodically paternal...
- 1/11/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
127 Hours (15)
(Danny Boyle, 2010, Us/UK) James Franco, Clémence Poésy, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn, Treat Williams. 94 mins
Boyle keeps his feet on the ground after Slumdog Millionaire by attempting to make the worst date movie of all time. But this true-life tale of "the guy who chopped off his own arm" is at least an intense, jam-packed experience. The inevitable gory climax overshadows all that precedes it, though there are tireless visual flourishes, stark survival details and narrative sidetracks to distract you, and Franco is very good company. When the hacking starts though, you'll wish you'd brought along some anaesthetic yourself – and cancelled that dinner reservation.
The King's Speech (12A)
(Tom Hooper, 2010, UK) Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter. 118 mins
Stiff royals turning out to be human after all – it's the sort of thing we Brits do terribly well, isn't it? But thanks to the force of Firth, this does it better than most.
(Danny Boyle, 2010, Us/UK) James Franco, Clémence Poésy, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn, Treat Williams. 94 mins
Boyle keeps his feet on the ground after Slumdog Millionaire by attempting to make the worst date movie of all time. But this true-life tale of "the guy who chopped off his own arm" is at least an intense, jam-packed experience. The inevitable gory climax overshadows all that precedes it, though there are tireless visual flourishes, stark survival details and narrative sidetracks to distract you, and Franco is very good company. When the hacking starts though, you'll wish you'd brought along some anaesthetic yourself – and cancelled that dinner reservation.
The King's Speech (12A)
(Tom Hooper, 2010, UK) Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter. 118 mins
Stiff royals turning out to be human after all – it's the sort of thing we Brits do terribly well, isn't it? But thanks to the force of Firth, this does it better than most.
- 1/8/2011
- by The guide
- The Guardian - Film News
Diego Luna makes a fine directorial debut with this insightful satire on Mexican family life
As an actor, Diego Luna made his name as the horny teen starring opposite Gael Garcia Bernal in the 2001 movie Y Tu Mamá También; now he makes an accomplished debut as a feature director with this enigmatic satirical nightmare, set in Mexico, on the theme of patriarchy and the family. Abel (Christopher Ruíz-Esparza) is a disturbed nine-year-old in a psychiatric hospital, having suffered a breakdown and retreated into silence, apparently as a reaction to his father's abandoning the family three years before. His mother Cecilia (Karina Gidi) persuades the doctors to allow him home, where Abel begins to speak, eerily inhabiting the persona of the missing dad: talking sternly to the teenage daughter, demanding his breakfast etc. The family plays along – and Luna shows how Abel's delusion answers their need to have a man about the house,...
As an actor, Diego Luna made his name as the horny teen starring opposite Gael Garcia Bernal in the 2001 movie Y Tu Mamá También; now he makes an accomplished debut as a feature director with this enigmatic satirical nightmare, set in Mexico, on the theme of patriarchy and the family. Abel (Christopher Ruíz-Esparza) is a disturbed nine-year-old in a psychiatric hospital, having suffered a breakdown and retreated into silence, apparently as a reaction to his father's abandoning the family three years before. His mother Cecilia (Karina Gidi) persuades the doctors to allow him home, where Abel begins to speak, eerily inhabiting the persona of the missing dad: talking sternly to the teenage daughter, demanding his breakfast etc. The family plays along – and Luna shows how Abel's delusion answers their need to have a man about the house,...
- 1/7/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Following his short contribution to “Revolución,” Mexican actor Diego Luna makes his feature film directorial debut with this family drama about a boy who thinks he’s someone he isn’t. His delusion is revealed gradually and seems harmless … until it’s not.
After two years in a psychiatric ward for women in provincial Aguascalientes, it’s time for nine-year-old Abel (Christopher Ruíz-Esparza) to transfer to a children’s hospital in Mexico City. Before he goes, though, his mother Cecilia (Karina Gidi) convinces his doctor to let her take him home for a week, despite his violent episodes and refusal to speak. She hopes she’ll be able to prove he can behave and she can take care of him so that he’ll be able to live with his family. Not much changes at first. But then suddenly one day Abel speaks. He’s acting strangely, but Cecilia denies it or goes along,...
After two years in a psychiatric ward for women in provincial Aguascalientes, it’s time for nine-year-old Abel (Christopher Ruíz-Esparza) to transfer to a children’s hospital in Mexico City. Before he goes, though, his mother Cecilia (Karina Gidi) convinces his doctor to let her take him home for a week, despite his violent episodes and refusal to speak. She hopes she’ll be able to prove he can behave and she can take care of him so that he’ll be able to live with his family. Not much changes at first. But then suddenly one day Abel speaks. He’s acting strangely, but Cecilia denies it or goes along,...
- 11/7/2010
- Moving Pictures Magazine
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