THE SHAPE OF WATER – Review

Sally Hawkins and Richard Jenkins in the film THE SHAPE OF WATER. Photo Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures. © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

Magical, evocative THE SHAPE OF WATER blends Cold War thriller, romance and monster movie genres in director Guillermo Del Toro’s best film since PAN’S LABYRINTH. In fact, THE SHAPE OF WATER is one of the year’s best.

Elisa (Sally Hawkins) lives a lonely life of unchanging routine as cleaning woman at a hidden military research facility during the Cold War. Mute but not deaf, Elisa’s best friend is her co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer), and she rents space in an apartment above an old movie theater from platonic friend Giles (Richard Jenkins), who is a marginalized person like them. Elisa’s quiet routine is changed forever by the arrival of ambitious, harsh military operative Richard Strickland and a mysterious creature in a water tank.

Rounding out the cast are Michael Stuhlbarg as a scientist and Doug Jones in a motion-capture performance as the creature. Fans of old monster movie will instantly note that this watery creature has a striking resemblance to another movie monster, which is no accident.

Cinematically and as entertainment, THE SHAPE OF WATER exceeds on all levels. There is fine acting by an excellent cast, a story that offers a thought-provoking twist on the monster genre, beautiful moody photography, magical visual effects, and brilliant direction. Then film draws on a number of Cold War era monster movies, such as THE BLOB and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON but also evokes the stifling conformity and judgmental tone of the era, an anti-gay, racist, pre-feminist time when those with disabilities or differences were also disdained.

Del Toro reportedly wanted to direct a comic book movie re-make of CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON but was thwarted in that effort. That explains the appearance of the watery creature, but this film is a far better story than a remake, a better as well as more original film.

THE SHAPE OF WATER is a visual delight, often shot in a slightly greenish, slanting-light style that suggests a watery world even above the surface. The soft light of rosy dawn lights the face of Sally Hawkins as her character rides the bus to work in the morning. The second floor apartment she shares with the friend played by Richard Jenkins is above an old movie theater, and partly lit by the theater’s marquee. The military installation where she and her best friend played by Octavia Spencer work is lit by dim fluorescent lights, filled with the gray and green fixtures of the 1950s.

Sally Hawkins is amazing in the lead role, creating an appealing and mysterious character we fall in love with, all without speaking a word. Hawkins is a delight but the supporting performances are wonderful as well. Richard Jenkins plays Eliza’s friend, a painter and gay man, who is an outsider in the conformist culture of the 1950s. Michael Shannon represents that rigid culture but goes way beyond that in his cold character who is the true villain. Michael Stuhlbarg delivers a touching performance as a scientist with a conscience and Octavia Spencer is fine as sharp-tongued, sharp-witted Zelda, Eliza’s loyal friend. Doug Jones, dressed in a bulky, elaborate costume enhanced by motion-capture, in the role as the watery creature is the perfect movie monster in the mold of James Whale’s Frankenstein monster.

The combination of Cold War thriller, monster movie and romance plays to all of Del Toro’s strengths as a director. The sense of the magical in PAN’S LABYRINTH returns here, along with some other the powerful and the powerless, but this is a more hopeful film. The characters are grouped into the marginalized and the powerful, but the creature is the question mark in that equation.

Anyone who has loved either old monster movies or the Beast in the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast will be charmed by this wonderful sci-fi fantasy of outsiders, insiders, and monsters in THE SHAPE OF WATER.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars