''Undertow'' () is a 2009
romantic drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed, written and produced by
Javier Fuentes-León
Javier Fuentes-León is a Peruvian film director based in Los Angeles and best known for his directorial long-feature debut ''Undertow (2009 film), Undertow'' (Spanish title ''Contracorriente'') that starred Cristian Mercado as Miguel, a fisherman ...
in his directorial debut. Initial financing came from Germany and France with additional financing from Peru. The film shot in
Cabo Blanco, Peru, won the World Cinema Audience Award in the Dramatic category at the 2010
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023.
The festival has acted ...
in the U.S.A.
Other Audience Awards included Cartagena, Montreal, Miami, Chicago, Utrecht, Lima, and Galway, as well as Jury Awards in Madrid, San Francisco, Seattle, Toulouse, and Philadelphia. It received a nomination as Best Latin American Film at the 2011 Goya Awards in Spain.
The film was also selected as the Peruvian entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film at the
83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2010 in the United States and took place on February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, be ...
but it did not make the final shortlist.
Plot
Miguel is a young fisherman of Cabo Blanco, a small village in northern Peru with specific traditions regarding death. He is married to Mariela, who's pregnant with their first son, but he also has a secret affair with a male painter called Santiago who he meets for trysts at a deserted cave on the coast.
Santiago accidentally drowns at sea, and his ghost returns to ask Miguel to find his body, in order to bury it with their village's rituals. Miguel eventually finds Santiago's body in the water, but does not tell his ghost of the discovery. Meanwhile, the villagers discover nude paintings of Miguel at Santiago's house, fueling a rumour that they were having an affair. Mariela hears the rumours, confronts Miguel about them, and upon hearing him confess, she goes to her mother's house with their newborn child.
Miguel returns to look for Santiago's body, but he finds that the current has taken it away. Mariela eventually returns home, but then Santiago's body appears in the nets of a fishing boat. Miguel claims Santiago's body for a burial at sea as his lover wanted. He takes the shrouded body of Santiago to sea, but a second after the body is committed to the waves, the ghost of Santiago reappears for a last time, caressing Miguel, who returns home alone in the sundown.
Cast
*
Cristian Mercado
Cristian Mercado is a Bolivian theater and film actor.
On film, he is known for his lead role as Falso Conejo in ''Sena/Quina, la inmortalidad del cangrejo'' and as Miguel, a fisherman in ''Undertow (2009 film), Undertow'' (Spanish title ''Contr ...
as Miguel
*
Manolo Cardona
Manuel "Manolo" Julián Cardona Molano (born April 25, 1977) is a Colombian actor.
Personal life
Cardona was born in Popayán, Cauca, Colombia on April 25, 1977. At the age of seven, Cardona's family nicknamed him "Manolo," which later beca ...
as Santiago
* Tatiana Astengo as Mariela
Production
''Undertow'' had been gestating since 1996, when the director Javier Fuentes-León wrote the very first scene. Originally conceived as a supernatural revenge thriller about a fisherman having an affair with a prostitute, Javier decided to change it after coming out of the closet himself, in an attempt to explore more interesting themes and material.
Critical reception
The film received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
reports that 88% out of 32 critics gave the film a positive review, with a rating average of 7.3/10. Manohla Dargis from ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' praised the director's ability to show powerful relationships between the characters, particularly focusing on the complexity of Miguel's feelings for Mariela, which she called "gratifying". David Wiegang from the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
'' also gave the film a positive review, saying that the "film's accomplishments are many, but not the least is its ability to take a human story and frame it as a parable, without losing a bit of credibility or irresistible heart."
Pam Grady from ''
Boxoffice Magazine'' wrote “Sensual and romantic with a heavy dose of the supernatural and populated by indelible characters.”
Bob Mondello from
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
wrote “Undertow, for all its narrative tricks, has been given the rhythm and texture of real life, as well as emotional undercurrents that are haunting.”
Awards and nominations
*2009: Won Sebastian Award at the
San Sebastián International Film Festival
The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; , ) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spain, Spanish city of Donostia, Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Countr ...
*2010: Won Audience Awards for "World Cinema – Dramatic" category at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023.
The festival has acted ...
*2010: Nominated for Grand Jury Prize for "World Cinema – Dramatic" category at the Sundance Film Festival
*2010: Won Audience Award for Ibero-American competition at
Miami Film Festival
*2010: Nominated for Golden India Catalina for "Best Film (Mejor Película)" at
Cartagena Film Festival
The Cartagena Film Festival (), or FICCI, is a film festival held in Cartagena, Colombia, which focuses mainly on the promotion of Colombian television series, Latin American films and short films. The Cartagena Film Festival, which is held ever ...
*2011: Nominated
GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film – Limited Release
*2011: Nominated for Goya for "Best Spanish Language Foreign Film" at
Goya Awards
The Goya Awards () are Spain's main national annual film awards. They are presented by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain.
The first ceremony was held in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Ar ...
*2011: Winner for
Best Film at the 6th
Luces Awards
See also
*
*
*
References
External links
''Undertow / Contracorriente'' Official website*
{{Peruvian submission for Goya Awards
2009 films
2000s coming-of-age drama films
2009 directorial debut films
2009 romantic drama films
Films directed by Javier Fuentes-León
2009 LGBTQ-related films
2000s Peruvian films
2000s Spanish-language films
Peruvian romantic drama films
Peruvian LGBTQ-related films
LGBTQ-related romantic drama films
LGBTQ-related coming-of-age drama films
LGBTQ-related fantasy films
Films about male bisexuality
Magic realism films
Shoreline Entertainment films
Colombian drama films
Gay-related films
Films scored by Selma Mutal