100
Boxoffice Magazine by Pam Grady
Sensual and romantic with a heavy dose of the supernatural and populated by indelible characters.
Undertow (Contracorriente)
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- Peru,
- Colombia,
- France,
- Germany
- 2009
- · 100m
Director
Javier Fuentes-León
Cast
Cristian Mercado,
Manolo Cardona,
Tatiana Astengo,
José Chacaltana,
Attilia Boschetti,
María Edelmira Palomino
Genre
Drama,
Romance
A married fisherman struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within his town's rigid traditions. He cares for his wife, but he and his lover have an extraordinary bond. As their three lives become intertwined, the fisherman's choice will have a profound affect on all of them, and their futures.
Stream Undertow
What are critics saying?
100
San Francisco Chronicle by David Wiegand
This small 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.
80
The Hollywood Reporter
Filmmaker Javier Fuentes-Leon's delicately and sensuously illuminates this collision of contemporary sexuality with centuries of dogma and tradition. At times, he interjects magical realist elements into the story, which makes it confusing rather than lifting it to a higher plane of understanding.
80
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
In a confident yet relaxed feature debut, Fuentes-León has created a wholly unified work of art.
80
Village Voice by Ernest Hardy
Undertow, is sublime. Set in a small, picturesque Peruvian fishing village, it's less a coming-out tale than a magic realism–infused coming-of-consciousness love story.
80
Empire
A languid, quietly moving love triangle.
80
NPR by Bob Mondello
Undertow, for all its narrative tricks, has been given the rhythm and texture of real life, as well as emotional undercurrents that are haunting.
80
The Hollywood Reporter by Duane Byrge
Filmmaker Javier Fuentes-Leon's delicately and sensuously illuminates this collision of contemporary sexuality with centuries of dogma and tradition. At times, he interjects magical realist elements into the story, which makes it confusing rather than lifting it to a higher plane of understanding.
80
Empire by Ian Freer
A languid, quietly moving love triangle.
75
Washington Post by Stephanie Merry
As if love triangles aren't complicated enough, the bittersweet Peruvian film Undertow offers a couple of twists on the archetype.
75
Boston Globe by Wesley Morris
Like most films about gay men, Undertow can't envision a normal life of couplehood. But Fuentes-Léon works in a blithe and breezy magic-realist manner that fends off attendant feelings of depression.
70
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
A small movie with a full heart, Undertow takes an old idea - the loving, lingering ghost - and gives it reverberant, resuscitated life.
60
Time Out by Eric Hynes
Undertow's three impassioned lead performances and Fuentes-León's honest engagement with thorny matters of identity, sexuality and community still make it an easy movie to get swept up by.
60
New York Daily News by Joe Neumaier
Without excessive emotion or drama, director Javier Fuentes-León's film - and Mercado's performance - gently captures the power of emotions whose silent rattle is even stronger than reality.
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