The Shape Of Water Review – Spoiler Free
The Shape Of Water is a film which comes directed by Guillermo del Toro who some may know as the director of films such as Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) or Crimson Peak (2015). The film stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg and Doug Jones.
The Shape of Water is a film which follows the story of a janitor during the 1960’s who works in a top-secret facility where an under water creature is being held captive. Surprisingly and completely unknown to the staff, during night duties, the janitor falls in love with the creature.
I was mostly interested to go in and see this film because I’ve always enjoyed the works of its director Guillermo del Toro, his films are usually supernatural and always visually interesting. The Shape Of Water will give you just that, audiences are going to get a film with a 1960’s setting, which takes place at a time in America where they were super concerned about the Russians and communism. The film introduces us to this fish/man who is able to live underwater and survive outside of it for some time too. But he’s being experimented on by the military so they can find a use for him and there’s no real care for the creature’s life at all (there’s no ethics).
But the setting of this film isn’t really the main focus, our main focus and the focus for this story is on the tale of Elisa (Sally Hawkins) who is a mute and can’t speak. She works as a janitor in this facility and we watch her observe and interact with a variety of characters. Although she does have her friends, such as Glies (Richard Jenkins), her roommate and Zelda (Octavia Spencer), her work friend. Elisa, not being able to speak with anyone seems a little lonely. Somehow though, she strikes a romance with the underwater fish man, who also cannot speak and the two fall in love quickly.
I found the story and the presentation of the film to be very unique and it’s certainly one of the more artsy of the recent films to be released and one that I think will get a lot of award attention. For much of my viewing experience, I couldn’t help but feel/think that people are going to think this one is just a little weird. When I go around telling people about the fish man love story I just watched and it’s actually pretty good, I get a lot of weird looks. But actually the film is pretty good and is worth a watch. Just keep in mind, the film is a little more artsy than your general blockbuster at the cinema. But there’s nothing else really like this at the cinema at the moment either so that’s what makes it a little interesting.
The actors are all pretty good. There’s a good performance from Sally Hawkins who had a difficult role to play where she couldn’t really speak, but I always felt that the way her emotions were conveyed, that I always knew what was going on. Other actors are all good too.
Overall this is an interesting film which is at its core a supernatural/fantasy love story film about a woman and fish man. The film’s tone and presentation is a little dark, but there’s a lot of heart to it all. It’s a nice story and in the end I think it’s certainly worth checking out at the cinema. If you’re ticking off films to see during awards season, this one should probably be on your list as it’s getting a lot of attention. For more casual movie goers, who aren’t into these more artsy films, they probably need to be prepared for something they might find a little weird. But it’s all good and I recommend seeing it this week, especially if you’re a Guillermo del Toro fan.
