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| Strange and strangely beautiful, the dream-like poster for Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water certainly attracts the eye |
In a military facility in Baltimore of 1962, a mute cleaning lady is drawn towards the prestigious, strange discovery of a US colonel, captured from the Amazon river, a humanoid amphibian creature, whom she forms a strong, secret bond with.
The Shape of Water is written by Vanessa Taylor (Hope Springs (2012)) and great Mexican co-writer-director Guillermo del Toro (Crimson Peak (2015)). It is a rather peculiar story that's based on Toro's childhood fascination with Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) and his fantasy of the Gill-Man monster of that film succeeding with his romance with the film's beautiful star Julie Adams.
The Shape of Water recalled for me another millennial Oscar phenomenon, Michel Hazavinicius' masterpiece The Artist (2011), which, as a silent B/W period romance sets comparably serious challenges for itself in front of its (modern day) audience. - But as that film caught and held me firmly in its hand as if by some cinematic magic, The Shape of Water regrettably has me sitting outside its strange monster-romance cocoon for its entirety. Toro has stated that this is his first film that he is making "speaking as an adult", dealing with "something that worries me as an adult. I speak about trust, otherness, sex, love, where we're going." That is a lot of themes, and I think that perhaps Toro's strengths as a filmmaker need some honing through application, if he is to succeed as a formidable 'adult' filmmaker. I still count his The Devil's Backbone/El Esperanza del Diablo (2001) as his greatest film, and though it is primarily about children, I think it is plenty 'adult' in content and tone.
The Shape of Water has a captivating Cold War production design: Sally Hawkins' (Blue Jasmine (2013)) passion for the monster didn't really get under my skin, but her crummy apartment on top of a struggling cinema, next to an identical one belonging to her sad but infinitely friendly neighbor (played by Richard Jenkins (Let Me In (2010)), are some wonderfully crafted and cinematic rooms. - The partly linoleum-floored military working place is another evocative setting in The Shape of Water.
Jenkins is a highlight as unsuccessful illustrator and unhappy gay man Giles, who wears a toupee and not a hairpiece, as he points out at one point, and the film has three more outstanding supporting performances that drive its story forward with such personality that we don't want to miss a minute: Octavia Spencer (Red Band Society (2014-15)) is great, especially with getting a lot out of some very funny lines; Michael Stuhlbarg (Fargo (2017), TV-series) is his usual magnificent self as a surreptitious but nevertheless likable character, - SPOILER although the fact that he doesn't suspect his own forthcoming murder is almost a hole in the plot. - And finally Michael Shannon (Freeheld (2015)) is magnetic as the villain colonel Strickland, who may be at times cruel and upsetting, but who is also humanized by the writing and performance, and he is the film's most interesting character. Whenever Strickland's capture of the monster in the Amazon was mentioned in The Shape of Water, I thought wow! - What a movie that story might make, if Toro ever wants to revisit this universe in another very exciting locale.
The outlandish material doesn't achieve monumental transcendence in The Shape of Water, but the film is still very entertaining and memorable with several terrific features.
Related posts:
Guillermo del Toro: The day after the day after ... the 2018 Oscars
Pacific Rim (2013) or, The Monster Resistance
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) - Jackson's megalomania gives birth to the first third of an enormous fantasy whopper (co-writer)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010) or, What Creeps in the Dark (co-writer)
Julia's Eyes/Los Ojos de Julia (2010) - Decent Spanish horror with good craftsmanship, little else (co-producer)
Blade II (2002) or, The Vampire Ass-Kicker 2
Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The Devil's Backbone/El Espinoza del Diablo (2001) - The excellent Gothic genre-mix that is Del Toro's best film so far
Mentioned movie: The Artist (2011) - French-kissing with Old Hollywood
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: Reportedly just 19.5 mil. $
Box office: 194.5 mil. $ and counting
= Mega-hit (9.97 times the cost)
[The Shape of Water premiered 31 August (Venice International Film Festival, Italy) and runs 123 minutes. Toro reportedly had the idea for the film at a breakfast meeting in 2011 with Daniel Kraus, with whom he later wrote a novelization of the film. Shooting took place in Ontario, Canada, including Toronto, from August - November 2016. The film opened #22 in 2 theaters to an impressive 166k $ (83k $ average) first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #8 and in 2,341 cinemas (different weeks) and grossed 63.8 mil. $ (32.8 % of the total gross to date). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets have been China with 16.7 mil. $ (8.6 %) and Mexico with 14.9 mil. $ (7.7 %). The film was nominated for 13 Oscars, the most nominations of the year: It won for Best Picture, Director, Score (Alexandre Desplat) and Production Design. It lost Actress (Hawkins) and Supporting Actor (Jenkins) to Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Supporting Actress (Spencer) to Allison Janney for I, Tonya, Screenplay to Jordan Peele for Get Out, Cinematography (Dan Laustsen) to Roger Deakins for Blade Runner 2049, Costume Design to Phantom Thread; and Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Editing to Dunkirk. The film also won 2/7 Golden Globe noms, 3/12 BAFTAs, an AFI award, 4 Venice Film Festival awards and countless other honors. A lawsuit for plagiarism has been initiated; allegedly the film is based on a 1969 dolphin-cleaning lady film: Toro and the studio denies this. Toro has 3 scheduled upcoming projects, all only 'announced': A 'darker version' stop-motion Pinocchio, con-man action drama remake Nightmare Alley and finally a documentary about master filmmaker Michael Mann. Hawkins returned in Paddington 2 (2017). The Shape of Water is certified fresh at 92 % with an 8.4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Shape of Water?
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