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Saw this last night. It is a must see! It's basically the same elements as Brokeback Mountian, but set in Peru.
Watch these two trailers. The first one has no subtitles, but you get the idea of what's going on...
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSNJ9KOAGxw[/youtube]
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm1-tDY-esU[/youtube]
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yikes! there's even a dozy embrace!
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http://www.undertowfilm.com/
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yikes! there's even a dozy embrace!
There are many paralllels to Brokeback! :o
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I wanna see it!
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Me too!
Maybe we can see it together in Stockholm? If it's come to Sweden by then, that is.
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Me too!
Maybe we can see it together in Stockholm? If it's come to Sweden by then, that is.
*fingers crossed*
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OMG!!!!!! It's Brokeback all over again!!! So many similarities - just in the trailers!!! :o
The only problem is that when I watched the trailers, I was torn between trying to read the English subtitles and
looking at the incredibly cute guys!!!!!! ;D
Thanks so much for letting me know about this, Eric! :)
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Will Oscar be Swept Away by the Gay "Undertow?"
http://www.afterelton.com/movies/2010/10/undertow-oscar
P.S.: Opens in NY & LA on November 26th...
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I'll be seeing it on Friday at the Montreal LGBT film fest. I can't wait!
So many gay films coming out of Latin America lately.
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Well, I finally saw Contracorriente and it certainly deserves it's Brokeback Peru rep. It did succumb to melodrama (unlike BbM) and we could see the ending coming from a mile away, but it eventually won me over. I even shed a few tears a couple of times. I'm very glad I saw it.
I also found a great interview with the director which made me appreciate the film even more:
http://twitchfilm.com/interviews/2010/09/peruvian-cinema-contracorriente-undertow-2009-interview-with-javier-fuentes-leon.php
Excerpt:
Aside from the psychological meaning of the seaside village of Cabo Blanco, I've read interesting reports of the physical filming of Undertow in that fishing village and how the locals reacted not only to the filmmaking process but the film's content. Can you speak to that? Originally, you didn't tell the locals that your film had a gay theme?
Fuentes-León: Not at the beginning, no. We wanted them to cooperate in so many ways and I was afraid that they wouldn't if they knew what the film was about. Cabo Blanco is extremely religious. We didn't actually film Undertow's church scenes in Cabo Blanco's church. We dressed up a bar to serve as the church. Besides, Cabo Blanco's real church was proportionally huge compared to the small size of the town, almost ridiculously so, like: "God is here, boom!" [Laughs.] First, they wouldn't allow us to film in their church. Second, even though it was a real church it was way out of proportion to the town and I didn't feel that was what I wanted. But that's just by way of example of how religion had such a stronghold on this town.
My art director would jokingly comment that no one was going to believe that in many places I actually had to bring religious paraphernalia down from the walls--usually art directors create a space by putting things up--but there was so much religious paraphernalia on the walls that we had to bring them down. Again, that tells you how much a Catholic stronghold there was in Cabo Blanco. We knew that we needed a macho fishing village with a strong Catholic tradition; but, that we were shooting something that a lot of people were not going to be happy about. So at the beginning we decided not to reveal our intentions. When we were asked about the film, we were vague and said, "It's about a fisherman who is married and has a friend that the people in the village don't like and he's trying to show the people in the village that his friend is a nice guy." That satisfied them enough in the beginning. We actually decided to shoot some of the more revealing scenes--like Miguel and Santiago walking down the street holding hands--late in the shooting. I told my assistant director who was handling the shooting schedule that I wanted to shoot that scene towards the end because it was going to be a giveaway. In this town, male friends don't hold hands. But, you know, towards the middle of the shoot the villagers started to figure it out.
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I'm glad you liked it Oilgun!
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It just won the jury prize at the Image+Nation LGBT film fest in Montreal!
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Reminder, this opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday 11/26!
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Has anyone in New York or LA made it to see this yet? What are your thoughts?
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This movie continues to slowly make it's way around the country....
Anybody else seen it yet?
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Starts this Friday in Denver and Boston!!
Eh-Em. Cough. Lee. Cough. Paul. Eh-Em Lynne.
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Starts this Friday in Denver and Boston!!
Eh-Em. Cough. Lee. Cough. Paul. Eh-Em Lynne.
It's about time! Thanks, Eric. And take care of that nasty cough.
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I'll be seeing it on Friday at the Montreal LGBT film fest. I can't wait!
So many gay films coming out of Latin America lately.
Apart from Montreal, does anyone know of any planned release dates for other Canadian cities like Toronto?
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Apart from Montreal, does anyone know of any planned release dates for other Canadian cities like Toronto?
Check out their webiste or their facebook page. It has the listings of the upcomming playdates that are booked. I'd provide a link but I'm at work and facebook is blocked here.
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Undertow opens Friday at the Kendall Square cinema in Cambridge for one week only! Thank you for the heads-up, Eric!
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Lynne and I, and maybe some others, will try and see Undertow this weekend, although another nasty storm is predicted!
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The snow storm turned to rain and even that hasn't materialized yet.
Paul, Andrew, and I are at the Kendall Square theater. I broke my personal landspeed record and we were here with ten minutes to spare!
Report to follow in a few hours.
:)
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Looking forward to your reports!
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Me too!
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Well, I was caught by the current.
*spoilers below*
After a lovely brunch with Pete/VermontSunset, Sandy/memento, Lynne and Andrew, complete with toasts to our dear friend Rodney, Lynne, Andrew and I headed out to Kendall Square to see "Undertow". Apologies to Lynne for rushing us along, she knows I hate to be late.
I purposely went into this film as an Undertow virgin, not having read reviews or articles, nor even having seen the trailers. Just like BBM.
There are many rewards to seeing this film. The characters are so real, so believable, even in the face of unbelievable circumstances.
The BBM comparison can't be ignored, from the early dozy embrace homage, to the Ennis-like character who sincerely loves his wife and baby, and also his photographer/painter lover, but can't admit it.
The overall theme, to me, is: what does it mean to be a man? Miguel, the fisherman, as the main protagonist, must ask himself this question repeatedly.
Instead of the west of the 1960s, we have present-day Cabo de Blanco, a poor, very Catholic, very claustrophobic fishing village. Steeped in tradition, everyone knows everyone's business.
Miguel is smitten with Santiago, but repeatedly denies (Peter-like) their relationship. There are confrontation sequences, reminiscent of our Lake Scene, and when Santiago drowns (it was not clear if this was an accident or a suicide, victim of the "undertow"), Miguel alone sees him, as if in purgatory, waiting for his rest.
Some of the most moving scenes (to me) were of the two lovers being themselves, including walking down the street holding hands, knowing that Santiago was invisble to everyone but Miguel, because now he is a kind of ghost.
The ending parallels BBM in that Miguel eventually gets to "offer him" to the sea, in the way that Ennis would if he could have scattered Jack's ashes on Brokeback Mt.
There were tears, both on film, and chez moi, but I didn't think it stooped to melodrama. I found it very sincere. Miguel's wife was as sympathetic as Alma, even more so, and the different and changing reactions of the town folk to Miguel's plight was fascinating.
Superb performances, gorgeous cinematography, diverse music, added to the pleasure.
Thank you, Eric, for going to bat for this film, and I even liked it LOL. I may have to see it again this week before it leaves.
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I dare say that "Undertow" explores bisexuality more than any other film in recent memory.
Although Miguel longs for Santiago, and prefers to watch the handsome character in the soap opera over 'football', he so clearly loves his pregnant wife, wants to be a good father, and even has a passionate scene with his wife after his son is born.
He wants to honor his male lover in order for his son to 'respect' him, which I found very interesting.
Again, what does it mean to be a man?
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Thanks for your feedback! Reviews are very favorable. Undertow is showing here in Denver and I will see it...hopefully with friends but if not, by myself!!
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[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGuyD0-B3h4&feature=related[/youtube]
&feature=related
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Thanks everyone who was part of the community effort which got a few more of us to see this film!
I'm on the lookout for other good images from the film. For now, this one.
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/SantiagoandMiguel1.jpg)
One thing mentioned in the interview with the director Javier Fuentes-Leon, linked to earlier, is the blue wall color chosen for this scene.
Naturally, as is the way with art, this detail had the desired effect at the time, going straight into my unconscious as I was watching the film. Only later did my conscious mind come along to put this check mark on it, as if to try to validate its own importance vis-a-vis the unconscious/the sea.
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Wow, that image reminds me of the old Dutch Masters with the use of color and lighting.
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(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wkMSc5DjQ18/TJ6VAl_IT8I/AAAAAAAAN54/oS55jzQX-vk/s1600/undertow_09.jpg)
(http://media.theiapolis.com/aR/cDCDCDC/d4/e4/hM8/iYU9/r1/s1/t4/wG4/z23/contracorriente.jpg)
(http://img.espiritugay.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/01b-contracorrientePeru.jpg)
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(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wkMSc5DjQ18/TJ6UpnxUo-I/AAAAAAAAN5w/4CJ6QJbftv4/s1600/undertow_08.jpg)
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(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wkMSc5DjQ18/TJ6Qe17sTPI/AAAAAAAAN5A/F5BsVJGS674/s1600/undertow_02.jpg)
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Thanks Paul, good work!
Wow, that image reminds me of the old Dutch Masters with the use of color and lighting.
When you are an artist nothing in history is closed to you, anything may be used.
For a shot like the one you are referring to, Truman, you can put together Rembrandt's Girl with a Broom in the National Gallery, Washington
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/RembrandtGirlwithBroom.jpg)
with this one by Raoul Dufy:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/RaoulDufyoverlookingthesea.jpg)
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Only later did my conscious mind come along to put this check mark on it, as if to try to validate its own importance vis-a-vis the unconscious/the sea.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wkMSc5DjQ18/TJ6Qe17sTPI/AAAAAAAAN5A/F5BsVJGS674/s1600/undertow_02.jpg)
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Well, I finally saw Contracorriente and it certainly deserves it's Brokeback Peru rep. It did succumb to melodrama (unlike BbM) and we could see the ending coming from a mile away, but it eventually won me over. I even shed a few tears a couple of times. I'm very glad I saw it.
I also found a great interview with the director which made me appreciate the film even more:
http://twitchfilm.com/interviews/2010/09/peruvian-cinema-contracorriente-undertow-2009-interview-with-javier-fuentes-leon.php
Thanks, Gil. This is long, but excellent and very intelligent interview that added to my understanding of the film. Now I really want to see it again.
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Actually, that style of lighting where the light source is on the side so that a triangle of light forms on the shadow side of the face is called Rembrandt Lighting. So you all are right on target.
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(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wkMSc5DjQ18/TJ6RIV4aNKI/AAAAAAAAN5I/sizBlJXghqk/s1600/undertow_03.jpg)
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I want to see this film.
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I do too, but it will probably be a year or more before Netflix has it. I did see that Amazon had it in the PAL format.
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Well, I was caught by the current.
Thank you, Eric, for going to bat for this film, and I even liked it LOL. I may have to see it again this week before it leaves.
:)
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Amazon has it available for pre-order; the release date for US/region 1 is June 1.
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Amazon has it available for pre-order; the release date for US/region 1 is June 1.
I will definitely buy a copy.
Lynne and Lee, where's your reviews?
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Haven't seen it yet, friend, but hopefully in the next couple of days!
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I am having a very hard time getting this film out of my head, eight days after the initial viewing with Paul and Lynne. Oh no! At least this is a 'second-generation' experience....That other film I went to alone.
In this interview we get to hear Fuentes-Leon answering questions at the New York Newfest last June.
http://www.homo-neurotic.com/2010/06/06/qa-with-udertow-director-javier-fuentes-leon/ (http://www.homo-neurotic.com/2010/06/06/qa-with-udertow-director-javier-fuentes-leon/)
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Good news, it is going to be in Minneapolis starting March 4 (I hope starting - I hope not 'only on') and crayonlicious is planning to go!
Current listed cities for brief runs this spring are
http://www.undertowfilm.com/screenings.html (http://www.undertowfilm.com/screenings.html)
March 4
Minneapolis, Landmark
March 11
Rochester, NY The Little Theatre
April 1
Chicago, Music Box Theatre
April 17 - 18
Tacoma, WA, Grand Cinema
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Is anybody in the Stockton area? Undertow is showing there at the San Joaquin International Film Festival the evening of March 18 as 'Centerpiece Film'. I know Eric and Pete already had the chance to see it in San Francisco.
Is this obsession on my part? Naw, couldn't be, Brokeback Mountain was true obsession. I only think about Undertow a little, every day!
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Gee I wish it would come to one of the two cities I'm in - Washington or New Orleans... hm!
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The problem is, Wolfe Releasing, which has the US rights, is such a small undertaking. They specialize in gay and lesbian DVDs but also do this small-scale theater releasing. At the time it was shown in film festivals last year it didn't have the prestige of its awards yet. The only good part is that it actually will be released on DVD in the US in June, and only with the DVD do you have the chance to take in all the good things around the edges of the story.
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On the other hand, I doubt if many foreign-language films get much wider theatrical release in the US than this. Can anyone think of examples where films in languages other than English got a wider release, or runs of longer than about a week?
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Not since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Thanks for keeping this in our sights, friend.
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That's a great example, isn't it, Lee? "In 2001, this became the first foreign language film to earn over $100 million in the United States. "
It's often when people don't even care about the language, either because they know they like that director or actor or because they think of it mostly as an action movie.
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Cristian Mercado and Tatiana Astengo at the premiere in Lima, August 2010
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/CristianMercadoandTatianaAstengoatpremiereinLima.jpg)
(photo by Javier Fernandez)
My translations from an interview of Cristian Mercado with David Mamani Cartagena:
It was a lengthy casting process. The first contact I had with this film was through Rodrigo Bellot a year before the filming. First I sent two scenes which I prepared and filmed in La Paz with the help of friends, after which they invited me to Lima for a final screen test with the director, during which he decided to gamble on me for his project even though I am a 'famous unknown' and from a different country too [Bolivia]...
Cinema is a lottery, it also takes talent and hard work, a lot of luck, in the sense that many factors must coincide - physical and 'chemistry' factors, good scripts, good directors, roles which go with your physical type. Sometimes there are people who would like to do a role and think they could do it really well but they are looking for someone younger, someone older, or darker or lighter-skinned or taller or fatter, who knows...in film unlike in theater, your physical type has a huge effect on the roles you can get...
I consider myself a man of the theater first, as it is the place where this whole voyage started and I think I could never abandon it, however in the cinema too I have found a space I find very congenial and where I feel I can also express something a little different, it's two worlds which I don't think of as distant from each other, the principles are the same, the processes and contexts may be different but the place you get to is the same. The same is true with music, it's a space in which I discovered I could say a different type of thing, where I can relate to myself, dialog differently with the public and even with myself. Music is a language which allows me to open other doors, facets, corners of myself I didn't know were there, lets me know myself under a different form. The name of the band 'Reverso' reflects that a little, it's an "other side", a "Side B" which is part of who I am as well.
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June 1 is here and this beautifully-made film is finally available on DVD. Netflix has it and so do the stores. I'm sorry its budget and distributor meant it had such a sorry career in the theaters, especially after the Sundance and other awards and the Oscar speculation, but I will treasure the little outing Lynne, Paul and I had one icy night in February to the Kendall. Given that, obviously, we did NOT see Brokeback Mountain together on its first release. Sfericsf and oilgun are the only two others I know of on this forum who managed to see it in the theater.
I have a lot I want to write about it, but I just don't want to spoil its surprises by doing that before more people see it. And I have a lot I want to read about it here too!
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Thanks for reminding me...I will look for it!
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My copy is coming from Amazon!
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The film is here!
There are several good things in the extras, including nice interviews with Cristian Mercado and Tatiana Astengo. There is a new revelation about the director's imagined backstory for Miguel and Santiago - that they met as boys when Santiago came to the village from Lima for summer vacations while his father was involved with his business at the nearby oil refineries, and that at a certain age they fell in love even before Mariela moved to the village. Our information about this in the film itself comes only in the marketplace scene when Mariela confirms she did not grow up there, and Santiago says he knew because he came there when he was growing up. Other than this, I just got a feeling Miguel and Santiago have been having the 'skipping stones on the waves' contest since they were little and it is one of the ways they have to relish their long history together.
The deleted scenes are mostly the usual - prosaic linking scenes. You can understand why the director decided they were unnecessary, or that in some cases they diverted the main movement. The film needs mystery and spareness, it needs us to engage with and question what is happening just as Miguel is forced to do at the critical moment in the story. And omission is appropriate for the locale; the village itself could not be more spare. The final cut of the film has much of the economy of the Greek classics.
There is one fantastic deleted moonlit scene without words I am glad shows up, for the purpose of being raided:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/MoonlitMiguelandSantiago.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/MoonlitMiguelandSantiago2.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/MoonlitMiguelandSantiago4.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/MoonlitMiguelandSantiago5.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/MoonlitMiguelandSantiago6.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/MoonlitMiguelandSantiago7.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/MoonlitMiguelandSantiago8.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/MoonlitMiguelandSantiago10.jpg)
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What a moving scene, Andrew. Thank you!
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I watched it last weekend and hope to again tomorrow night. It is a really interesting concept I think, the two men being able to be "together" after one of them dies, and the temptations that come with it.
I liked the part when the wife starts to realize the connection with the husband uses the world "Whapo" which was translated into "Swell".
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On the other hand, I doubt if many foreign-language films get much wider theatrical release in the US than this. Can anyone think of examples where films in languages other than English got a wider release, or runs of longer than about a week?
I remember Amélie and the dreadful La Vie en Rose being quite popular. I think they got wider releases. Also, maybe the Almodovar films.
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I watched it last weekend and hope to again tomorrow night. It is a really interesting concept I think, the two men being able to be "together" after one of them dies, and the temptations that come with it.
I liked the part when the wife starts to realize the connection with the husband uses the world "Whapo" which was translated into "Swell".
'Guapo' is mostly European Spanish for 'good-looking', and it got picked up in Sicily and Naples, where it must have been a joking friendly salutation among male friends, then was brought to the US by immigrants. It must then have been overheard by the people who resented them and turned into the derogatory 'wop'.
But in this movie, the idea seems to be that the more cosmopolitan blue-eyed Santiago uses this European slang which no one else in the village uses. Mariela is not from the village and her father used the word, but she associates it with his generation and thinks it funny that a young man is using it. That is all from the marketplace scene.
And it is a great touch that it is one of the things which starts to betray Miguel to her. Mariela is quite attuned to words. Perhaps her father, who was not from the village, was also a little cosmopolitan, or educated? She thinks it a big joke when Miguel confuses 'ecografia' (ultrasound) with 'ecologia' (ecology).
One of the interesting things is how little we know about her background. I think she has no identified relatives in the village. Dona Flor is identified as Miguel's aunt, not as hers.
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I remember Amélie and the dreadful La Vie en Rose being quite popular. I think they got wider releases. Also, maybe the Almodovar films.
There's also Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by our own Ang Lee.
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I was just watching this for the first time with David. When we came to the 'traveling to meet the loved one' sequence he asked me what the birds were which are visible for just a few seconds.
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/Miguelwithpelicans2.jpg)
They are pelicans, and they make a vivid if brief impression as they too fly past on their way, in the same direction as Miguel. They are like messengers of a world where Miguel and Santiago can be themselves, away from the village with its strictures .
These birds may look closer to the camera than they really are if you don't know how big they are - the wingspan can be eight feet.
This next is not from the film, just a clearer shot of how they look in flight, from Wikipedia.
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/800px-Brown_pelican_-_natures_pics.jpg)
And this is someone's travel picture of Peruvian Pelicans which was actually taken in Cabo Blanco where the filming took place.
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/youbetjack/PelicansatCaboBlanco.jpg)