Undertow (Contracorriente)
Sex on the beach...in Peru
Review
A Latin-American film about a homosexual fisherman and a homosexual painter by someone making his first ever film...with subtitles?! Yeah, what of it? It's really good.
”Undertow“ (contracorriente) is the debut feature film from Javier Fuentes-Leon, winning the audience award for world cinema at this year's Sundance festival, which is pretty good going.
Take a brokeback situation and set it in a Peruvian fishing village. A married man, with a heavily pregnant wife, is sneaking around with another man; a painter shunned from his own town for his sexual inclination. He's not on easy street in this village though; tradition and religion don't look too kindly on homosexuality.
Miguel, a respected fisherman, struggles to deal with his double life and before you can say the Spanish F-word (said a lot in this film), Santiago the painter tragically drowns in a boating accident. Don't fear though, he pops back as Casper the friendly ghost, who only Miguel can see.
The fisherman must deal with who he really is, even if he must lose the love and respect from the village and his wife. And by doing this, Santiago's spirit can finally be at peace.
Manolo Cardona plays Santiago. He's almost the equivalent of Robert Pattinson over in Peru. It's Cristian Mercado (Miguel), however, whose performance is particularly memorable. Essentially, a very good actor who can play 'a gay fisherman trying not to appear gay' particularly well.
The coastline of Peru is a sight for sore and unsore eyes, making this film visually satisfying as well as offering a dramatic grip on your attention.
We are going to give this film 3.75 freshly caught Peruvian fish out of a possible 5 that could have been hooked.
It's not groundbreaking, but it's pretty looking and well performed. Also, you can feel as though you are all cultural and sh*t when you watch it. So if you are cinematically broad-minded, appreciate world cinema, and the occasional man's bum, then give it a try. Undertow gets it's UK Theatrical Release on 6th August Stefan Arif
Miguel, a respected fisherman, struggles to deal with his double life and before you can say the Spanish F-word (said a lot in this film), Santiago the painter tragically drowns in a boating accident. Don't fear though, he pops back as Casper the friendly ghost, who only Miguel can see.
The fisherman must deal with who he really is, even if he must lose the love and respect from the village and his wife. And by doing this, Santiago's spirit can finally be at peace.
Manolo Cardona plays Santiago. He's almost the equivalent of Robert Pattinson over in Peru. It's Cristian Mercado (Miguel), however, whose performance is particularly memorable. Essentially, a very good actor who can play 'a gay fisherman trying not to appear gay' particularly well.
The coastline of Peru is a sight for sore and unsore eyes, making this film visually satisfying as well as offering a dramatic grip on your attention.
We are going to give this film 3.75 freshly caught Peruvian fish out of a possible 5 that could have been hooked. It's not groundbreaking, but it's pretty looking and well performed. Also, you can feel as though you are all cultural and sh*t when you watch it. So if you are cinematically broad-minded, appreciate world cinema, and the occasional man's bum, then give it a try. Undertow gets it's UK Theatrical Release on 6th August Stefan Arif
