The Shape Of Water

Year: 2017
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Richard Jenkins, Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones


Plot: A mute cleaning lady at a top secret science facility forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature held captive there.


Review: So I finally got the chance to catch this year's Best Picture Oscar winner, The Shape Of Water. While it is a great film, it isn't director Guillermo del Toro's best movie. It reminds me of Martin Scorsese's The Departed, in the sense that it won him the elusive Oscar, but it doesn't measure up to his previous work. In del Toro's case, Pan's Labyrinth is his number one movie.

Anyway, The Shape Of Water takes place in the late 60s, during the Cold War. Elisa is a mute woman working as a cleaning lady at a secret science facility. She only has two friends: Giles, her gay artist neighbor and Zelda, her co-worker at the facility. One day, an amphibious creature is brought in, and despite it being rather dangerous (having attacked the cruel military head Mr Strickland soon after it arrived), Elisa forms a bond with it and manages to communicate with it. When she learns that Strickland plans to kill and vivisect the creature, she tries to set the creature free, and ropes in Giles for help.

This film has a few similarities with del Toro's other creature films like Pan and Hellboy, and I don't just mean the participation of his favorite collaborator Doug Jones. While the sci-fi similarities are apparent, The Shape Of Water is essentially a love story between two people, both outcasts in their own way. Del Toro's attempt to set this romance in a retro period, complete with retro music and even a dance number between Elisa and the creature (in a dream sequence of course) is very much welcome.

The cast all throw in excellent performances, from Sally Hawkins as the kind Elisa, to Octavia Spencer as the helpful but opinionated Zelda, to Michael Shannon as the mean Strickland and Michael Stuhlbarg as a Russian spy passing off as a scientist in the facility. Jones of course deserves credit too as the creature. But in my book, the best performance goes to Richard Jenkins as Giles, who acts as Elisa's voice, best friend and conscience. He's probably the best friend anyone can have.

Now, while the film is indeed beautiful in almost every way, I would have preferred del Toro to focus less on a couple of other subplots, such as Giles' attempt to attract a diner owner he's interested in (which gets a much too convenient resolution), and Stuhlbarg's character's workings with his Russian handlers. The latter subplot got way too much screentime and took the focus away from the love story, which deserved more time to develop.

In the end, The Shape Of Water is a solid film from Guillermo del Toro, though again, not his best work. (7.5/10)