Review of Wetlands (2013) by Anthony G — 05 Oct 2014

A lot of films play on the case of being intentionally very grotesque or vulgar for the sake of controversy, I am happy to say that Wetlands is not one of these films.

The film opens with possibly one of the most disgusting introductions one can ever get to a character, let alone the protagonist. Helen Memel (Carla Juri), starts this film by sharing with the audience her unhygienic practices, such as making sure that she smells of vagina at all times so she can naturally attract more mates. Very early on we can tell something is not entirely right with this girl, and as we delve deeper into the film those issues come more into fruition. Helen remains the focus through the film, and her development and mental state are put in the forefront throughout a great majority of the film. Overall it is a very strong coming of age tale, delivered in an often times disturbing, yet also strangely beautiful way.

The director, David Wnendt, shows us his eye for very visually striking tales with this work. A few highlight scenes I thought we particularly well done include the film's intro (shot in probably one of the most disgusting bathrooms I have ever seen), Helen's dream sequences involving the purple hue coming from the oven, and finally the scene between Helen and Corinna (played by Marlen Kruse) in which they have a very unconventional night out. Again these are just a few highlight scenes for me and seeing as this is a relatively short review, I do not think it would be wise to discuss every visually striking or disturbing scene in the film. That said, when I say disturbing I mean disturbing.

There are many scenes in this film that made me actively cringe in my seat out of disbelief of what I was watching (pizza will never be the same). Still these scenes are played to great effect and while at times they can be jarring, they are actually used effectively rather than just being gross out or crude humor. This is definitely not a film for everyone and I feel like that should be known. If you believe you are a person that can look through several disturbing bloody and outward perverse scenes then you should be able to make it through this film as it's a rather quirky and fun look at the inside of a very disturbed girl's psyche.

-Anthony Gonzalez.