Undertow December 14, 2010

Anytime a movie involves fishermen, we’re on high alert for allegory. But Undertow (Contracorriente), the debut feature-length film from writer and director Javier Fuentes-León, is mum on moralizing and big on nuance. Most narratives that involve a love triangle -- this time between fisherman Miguel, his pregnant wife, and a male lover -- demonize at least one partner. But in Undertow, it’s the sticky muck of society that oppresses. Miguel is only liberated from his polyamory complications when his lover drowns and, in a turn towards magical realism, continues to be tangible and present to him. The film won the Audience Award at Miami International Film Festival’s Ibero-American competition and in Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Drama category.