Wade in the Water (2020)

This is unquestionably the most difficult review I’ve written so far, because even a full day after watching this movie, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about what I saw. Heck, I’m not entirely sure what I saw either. It’s indie. Very indie. It’s dark. Very dark. But it is also not at all what I expected. In retrospect, the trailer feels like it is for an entirely different film. Certainly not the film I saw. Having received a number of awards and a fair share of acclaim, I’ve seen multiple reviews that suggest it is part comedy. It’s not. And even more reviews that draw parallels to Taxi Driver. It’s not. It’s quirky, it’s sad, it’s disturbing, it’s touching, it’s poignant, it’s ugly… and  it’s beautiful. I honestly spent a lot of the time watching it internally debating whether I loved or hated it, and most often the answer was “both.” Perhaps the favorite line I saw in someone else’s review of this movie is “It’s a movie that shouldn’t work.” It does.