This sensuous, sun-drenched fable tells of a macho small-town fisherman dividing his attention between his adoring wife and the handsome, bohemian outsider who becomes his lover. Audience Award Sundance 2010.
Strikingly photographed to accentuate the majestic Peruvian coastline, this sexy, haunting love story transcends place and time.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2010
Undertow 2009
Contracorriente
Favoured with the Audience Award at Sundance in January, this sun-drenched fable tells of Miguel, a macho small-town fisherman intent on sustaining the attentions of his adoring, increasingly bewildered wife and the handsome, bohemian outsider who becomes his lover. Writer/director Javier Fuentes-León tempers his picture of Miguel’s increasing alienation from the tight coastal community with lyrical magic realism. Ultimately skirting the oppressive conclusions one fears, he defies – or possibly redefines – machismo with a rousing assertion of love, honour and courage. — BG
“Set in a ravenously beautiful seaside fishing village in Peru, Undertow contrasts the sensuous and free nature elements of the beach with the repressed and closed mindset of the villagers… Fuentes-León's delicately and sensuously illuminates this collision of contemporary sexuality with centuries of dogma and tradition.” — Duane Byrge, Hollywood Reporter