It is now our mission as critics to find the words that will convince South American filmmakers to abandon magical realism. Enough is enough. It has been done to death. Magical realism is to South American directors what the road movie is to North American directors. The weakest imaginations in the south still believe in the creative value of the fantastic turn; the weakest minds in the north still have an almost religious faith in the narrative mode of the car adventure. With all of this in mind, let’s examine a new Peruvian movie called Undertow.

Directed by Javier Fuentes-León, the film begins with the revelation that a young and married man, Miguel (Cristian Mercado), is having an affair with another man, a painter who lives by the sea, Santiago (Manolo Cardona). The cosmopolitanism of a big city is very far from where the lovers live—a small and very traditional fishing village. So far so good: a little tension, great cinematography, handsome actors. Then the painter dies (tragedy), then he returns as a ghost (ta-da), then the ghost haunts poor Miguel (travesty). Why this turn to the magical? The story was fine in the real—the village, the fertile women, the fish, the sea, the boats, the beers. We can only blame lifeless magical realism. We need to dig a hole and bury this thing in the ground.