Marina Antunes [Film Festival 12.11.09] trailer news drama



Peruvian director Javier Fuentes-León’s first full length feature is nearing its North American debut at Sundance. Fuentes-León has been working out of LA for the last few years but hasn’t forgotten his roots and his film, an unlikely ghost story titled Undertow (“Contracorriente”), takes place on the Peruvian seaside.

It’s the story of Miguel, a fisherman who is married and about to have a child but he’s also having an affair with Santiago, an artist and outsider. The story takes a turn for the fantastical when Santiago drowns and his spirit returns to ask Miguel to find his body and bury it according to village tradition in order for his soul to rest in peace. Miguel is now faced with a dilemma: does he admit that he was having an affair and essentially ruin his life in order to fulfil his lover’s request or does he simply go on with his life and the constant knowledge that he’s responsible for his lover’s eternal unrest?

It’s not quite clear if Santiago continues to haunt Miguel even after he makes the request but I’d have to guess it would be difficult to live with the knowledge that you walked away from someone you loved simply to save face. I’m a fan of these Latin American tales which so often come bundled with notions of the fantastic and deep rooted traditions and Fuentes-León’s film certainly sounds the part (not to mention this trailer is very pretty).

Trailer after the break.

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Anonymous (10 years ago) Reply

I got the chance to watch this film at the San Sebastian Film Festival in September and it completely blew me away. The scenery is breathtaking and the story line is beautiful. There was barely a dry eye in the theater when the film ended!

UK (10 years ago) Reply

I echo the first post. This film premiered at San Sebastian. The audience had everyone ranging from little old Spanish grannies, to the usual Euro festival cinephiles, to bright-eyed film students. This film is achingly beautiful. So much so that when the credits rolled to Fuentes-Leon's parents, the audience erupted to applause and a standing ovation. We'll hear a lot from this filmmaker.

Alexander (10 years ago) Reply

I was in San Sebastian too. I loved this film, amazingly shot and loved the soundtrack by Selma Mutal too.
I hope we can buy the soundtrack CD very soon.
Congratulations to the Director and his cast.

Sheri Candler (9 years ago) Reply

As an update to this film, Undertow has been submitted for consideration of an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and will make its US theatrical debut in San Francisco on September 17, 2010 at the Lumiere Theater. We are so excited for director Javier Fuentes Leon and this amazing film.

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