7.5/10
Germany's Wetlands belongs in a small but, uh, esteemed category of movies along with Kids and Gummo as the type of movie where you just want to take a billion showers after watching it. Unlike those two movies, Wetlands' protagonist is a teenage girl, obsessed with being an unhygienic as humanly possible owing to a childhood trauma. After one of her more horrifying transgressions lands her in the hospital, she forms a friendship with a male nurse while attempting to engineer a reunion between her parents from her bed. At the same time we learn more about her past through flashbacks, being spared no sickly detail or disgusting bodily function along the way.
The reason why this movie stands out as more than just a throwaway gross-out affair is Carla Juri's performance in the lead, undoubtedly one of the best performances I'll see all year. She gives her body to the role in a way that is very rarely seen in movies (maybe for the better...) but has such a natural charm and vulnerability that it's near impossible not to be won over by her, regardless of what repulsive behavior she's engaging in.
Unlike Kids or Gummo, Wetlands is more of a twisted comedy, and improbably (and owing in large part to Juri) makes you cheer for its protagonist...all the while being grossed out by her. Not a movie I'll forget any time soon, at least.
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