2017 | Dir. Guillermo del Toro | 123 Minutes
"When he looks at me, the way he looks at me, he does not know what I lack or how I am incomplete. He sees me, for what I am, as I am. He's happy to see me every time, every day."
In Cold War era Baltimore, Maryland, a mute woman named Elisa works as a janitor at a secret government facility. Elisa falls in love with an aquatic humanoid creature held captive in the lab, but as their romance blossoms she catches the attention of the sadistic colonel who captured the creature. With the creature's life on the line, Elisa helps the creature escape with the help of her friends.
The Shape of Water is a creature feature with a romantic heart beating at its core. Writer/Director Guillermo del Toro's fondness for monsters and old Hollywood colors every frame of the film. The audience is quickly introduced to Alisa who lives alone in a creaky apartment above an old movie theater through her day-to-day routine down to the most honest and intimate detail. As Alisa's relationship with the creature develops, rather than shy away from depicting the physical act of love, del Toro fully embraces the moment as one of romantic beauty and triumph. The supporting characters populating the relatively simple narrative are also nuanced and human to a fault, from Alisa's awkward neighbor who has a shy crush on the server at the local cafe to the villainous colonel who suffers from intense feelings of inadequacy.
As the mute heroine Elisa, Sally Hawkins is simply lovely and undeniably magnetic, carrying the film with genuine strength and grace. Doug Jones, the Boris Karloff of our time (and director Guillermo del Toro's regular ace in the hole), delivers yet another brilliant and affecting performance as the meticulously-realized fishman - here's hoping the Academy honors him with a statue some day if they're ever less stuffy about recognizing genre films. Character actor Michael Shannon at his most volatile raises the dramatic stakes considerably as the colonel, and leads a fantastic supporting cast featuring Octavia Spencer as Elisa's unhappily wed friend from work, Richard Jenkins as her kindly gay neighbor, and Michael Stuhlbarg as a conscientious soviet spy.
An artful and truly unique blend of pure romance and monster movie, The Shape of Water is a heartfelt tribute to those who feel unloved, and the fulfillment one may find in unexpected places. The film ranks among Guillermo del Toro's finest works, and it's without a doubt one of the best motion pictures of the year.
FRAGMENTS
- Writer/Director Guillermo del Toro reportedly asked for assistance from female members of his family and female friends to design the shape of the creature's butt to ensure that it was pleasing to the eye
- Doug Jones previously appeared in Writer/Director Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy and Hellboy II: The Golden Army based on Mike Mignola's comic book series as Abe Sapien, a similar amphibious humanoid creature
- Michael Stuhlbarg appears in three Best Picture Oscar Nominees that were released in 2017: this film, Call Me By Your Name, and The Post
MCU CONNECTIONS
- Michael Stuhlbarg (Nicodemus West in Doctor Strange and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness)
