[WETLANDS
screens Saturday November 29th at 9:45 pm and Sunday November 30th at
8:45 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]
Review
by Bob Ignizio
“If
you think penises, sperm, and bodily fluids are gross, you should
just forget about sex altogether.” So says seventeen year old Helen
(Carla Juri), the protagonist of David Wnendt's WETLANDS,
as she narrates her story. She might just as easily be talking about
the film itself, though. Outside of an early John Waters comedy or
straight up pornography, rarely has a movie so revelled in the
excretions of the human body to the degree this one does, alternating
eroticism with uncomfortable gross-outs.
Or
maybe it's all eroticism, depending on your personal tastes.
Certainly Helen finds the kind of things that would make the average
person gag a turn on, and despite her questionable hygiene practices
plenty of guys (and girls) find her attractive. Helen's fun comes to
an end, however, when she cuts herself shaving around the anal area
and winds up in the hospital needing an operation.
