Having finally seen the film, and in light of the Academy Awards, let me share my opinion of the Oscar darling, "The Shape of Water".
Director Guillermo Del Toro has spoken of how the movie is meant to be a modern and adult fairy-tale, with the working script being in fact titled "A Fairy-Tale For Troubled Times".
You can feel the design and direction mirroring Disney adaptations of such tales, with the use of narration, integration of music into the plot (at some points the film is nearly a musical), and of course, having the key characters be reworked versions of traditional archetypes.
Speaking of the characters, I want to touch upon each in detail. Cleaning woman Elisa Esposito(Sally Hawkins) is mute, living alone, and works in a secret government facility. She has two friends, a closeted gay artist named Giles (Richard Jenkins), and an outgoing black woman named Zelda (Octavia Spencer).
The head of the facility and movie antagonist is Colonel Strickland (Michael Shannon), who brings into the facility a strange fish-man (Doug Jones), to be studied by scientists led by a Doctor Hoffstetler(Michael Stuhlbarg), who is actually a Russian spy. As time goes on, Elisa and the creature, termed the Asset, fall in love.
Having established the cast and premise, let's dig into why this is my favorite film of 2017. Hawkins gives a career-defining performance, expressing the full range of human emotion while being entirely voiceless. Her motivations, interests, and thoughts are never ambiguous, and her romance is entirely believable.
In a year where the #MeToo movement dominated the entertainment industry, here is a movie where the female lead is a sexual being, who expresses it without shame, and openly refuses the advances of someone she doesn't want. While films can rarely be timed for a certain national mood, Hawkins' character is the perfect romantic lead for our current conversation.
While being the lead, Hawkins' isn't the only scene-stealer. Doug Jones, a natural when it comes to full-body suits and monstrous characters, embodies the Asset as a living, thinking person. We feel for him, root for his romance, and even see ourselves in his physical, emotional performance.
The supporting cast of Jenkins, Spencer, and Stuhlbarg elevate each scene through charisma and skill. Jenkins is vulnerable, aging, and genuine in his portrayal of a man in the wrong time period. Spencer seemingly returns as her character from "The Help", with the attitude, humor, and charm of that character. Stuhlbarg flawlessly performs the task of a double agent, who ends up torn between his role as a spy, and his duty as a scientist.
Last, but not least, we have the complex and frightening villain Strickland, empowered by the talented Shannon. Unlike Elisa, Strickland is a confused, sexually frustrated person, who forces his wife to be silent during sex so as to simulate a disturbing mute person fantasy. He harbors cruel, outdated ideas, and is driven to insanity as his career is threatened. Shannon brings his A-game to this role, giving us a movie villain to be remembered.
The production has to be mentioned. Director Guillermo Del Toro fully immerses us into the early 1960's, with the music, television, and culture all feeling authentic. The Cold War paranoia, the comments from individuals about race and sexuality, the atmosphere of that time is fully recreated.
The best looking piece of the movie is the creature himself. Del Toro, in films such as "Pan's Labyrinth", "Hellboy", and others, has always been on the cutting edge of monster designs. Here, he's outdone himself and made a creature that I saw as real, as alive. The future of monster design and make-up in film is here, and Del Toro has given us a glimpse.
"The Shape of Water" is a fantastic piece of cinema. Moving, wonderfully acted, and timeless in it's tale of love and loss, it deserves the award and critical recognition it's been given. If you haven't seen it yet, go do it. If you have seen it, do it again. I know I plan to.
