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The Shape of Water
It's a little bit science fiction, a little bit character study, a little bit love story, but the 2017 film The Shape of Water is definitely 100 % dazzling and original entertainment unlike anything I've ever seen and is the frontrunner for the Oscar for Best Picture and with good reason.
It's 1962 where we meet Elisa (Sally Hawkins), a mute housekeeper at an important research facility who actually develops a relationship with an amphibious creature who has brought to the facility by a military representative (Michael Shannon) for study and eventual destruction. There is also a Russian scientist (Michael Stuhlberg) who has been sent to the facility to destroy the creature but is trying to get out of the assignment because of the belief that this creature has intelligence and the ability to communicate with human beings. As Elisa becomes aware of what is going to happen to the creature, she makes it her mission to save him and finds allies in the Russian scientist, a lonely gay artist/neighbor (Richard Jenkins), and a co-worker of Elisa's (Octavia Spencer).
Director and co-screenwriter Guillermo Del Toro has crafted a sometimes shocking and completely riveting story that takes a complete 180 from the direction to which it initially seems to be going. A film that initially seems to be a loving homage to science fiction films of the 50's turns out to be anything but as we watch a creature cast a spell over characters in the film that should be terrified of him. Del Toro puts us on the creature's side almost immediately by having the creature abused by the military and the researchers and by his not understanding what is happening to him. We are then thrilled when Elisa introduces the creature to the joys of hard boiled eggs and the love story of the year is born.
Del Toro's direction is detail-oriented as is his attention to period detail. The dark look the film has is appropriate for the story and Del Toro never forgets that the story is set in 1962 without beating us over the head with it. We get one scene of a diner employee asking a black couple to leave his establishment and we move back to the story at hand. And it goes without saying that Del Toro really scores in the creation of the two characters at the core of this story. Elisa is a lovely and loving character who makes everything shes feeling crystal clear without saying a word and watching the creature slowly beginning to relate and understand and eventually love her was an absolute joy to watch.
Sally Hawkins' Oscar-nominated performance as Elisa is luminous and Michael Shanning is nothing short of bone-chilling producing one of the best cinematic villains I've seen in a while...hissable but three-dimensional and Richard Jenkins steals every scene he's in, a performance that earned him a supporting nomination. The film has a gloriously gothic look and features spectacular art direction/set (loved the Cadillac showroom), editing, sound, and an absolutely fabulous musical score that ran the gamut from genres to time periods. This film was like nothing I've ever seen and the finale had me grinning from ear to ear and wiping tears from my eyes.
It's a little bit science fiction, a little bit character study, a little bit love story, but the 2017 film The Shape of Water is definitely 100 % dazzling and original entertainment unlike anything I've ever seen and is the frontrunner for the Oscar for Best Picture and with good reason.
It's 1962 where we meet Elisa (Sally Hawkins), a mute housekeeper at an important research facility who actually develops a relationship with an amphibious creature who has brought to the facility by a military representative (Michael Shannon) for study and eventual destruction. There is also a Russian scientist (Michael Stuhlberg) who has been sent to the facility to destroy the creature but is trying to get out of the assignment because of the belief that this creature has intelligence and the ability to communicate with human beings. As Elisa becomes aware of what is going to happen to the creature, she makes it her mission to save him and finds allies in the Russian scientist, a lonely gay artist/neighbor (Richard Jenkins), and a co-worker of Elisa's (Octavia Spencer).
Director and co-screenwriter Guillermo Del Toro has crafted a sometimes shocking and completely riveting story that takes a complete 180 from the direction to which it initially seems to be going. A film that initially seems to be a loving homage to science fiction films of the 50's turns out to be anything but as we watch a creature cast a spell over characters in the film that should be terrified of him. Del Toro puts us on the creature's side almost immediately by having the creature abused by the military and the researchers and by his not understanding what is happening to him. We are then thrilled when Elisa introduces the creature to the joys of hard boiled eggs and the love story of the year is born.
Del Toro's direction is detail-oriented as is his attention to period detail. The dark look the film has is appropriate for the story and Del Toro never forgets that the story is set in 1962 without beating us over the head with it. We get one scene of a diner employee asking a black couple to leave his establishment and we move back to the story at hand. And it goes without saying that Del Toro really scores in the creation of the two characters at the core of this story. Elisa is a lovely and loving character who makes everything shes feeling crystal clear without saying a word and watching the creature slowly beginning to relate and understand and eventually love her was an absolute joy to watch.
Sally Hawkins' Oscar-nominated performance as Elisa is luminous and Michael Shanning is nothing short of bone-chilling producing one of the best cinematic villains I've seen in a while...hissable but three-dimensional and Richard Jenkins steals every scene he's in, a performance that earned him a supporting nomination. The film has a gloriously gothic look and features spectacular art direction/set (loved the Cadillac showroom), editing, sound, and an absolutely fabulous musical score that ran the gamut from genres to time periods. This film was like nothing I've ever seen and the finale had me grinning from ear to ear and wiping tears from my eyes.