The Shape of Water (2017) - Toro's strange monster romance is mostly an amusing fantasy

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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?

Hope Springs (2012) - Making an old marriage work, peppered with Streep at her best and top-grade talent all-around

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Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep are the old married couple in David Frankel's Hope Springs

Hope Springs is a romantic dramedy about Kay and Arnold, a couple married for 31 years, who have lost the spark in their marriage. Kay is the one bothered by this, and she gives her husband a subtle ultimatum about them going to an intensive therapy retreat in Maine. Once there, they work to get out of their crisis, which has been building up for years.
Hope Springs is surprisingly brilliant: I expected a lighter, more comedic and less real look at marriage problems and therapy, but instead, David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada (2006)) lets the drama of the story and the characters have the scene, and the outcome is a very timely and enveloping movie about growing set in a marriage, - and trying to get free again, - together.
Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah (2007)) is perfect as grumpy, insecure, but (under it all) sweet Arnold, and Steve Carell (The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)) totally nails his part as a compassionate and skilled marriage counselor. He could easily have drawn attention away from the main part of the film, - Kay and Arnold, - goofing it up, but Carell and Frankel never let this happen. - Wise.
- Because the emotional core of Hope Springs is secured in Kay and Arnold, and particularly due to Meryl Streep (The Hours (2002)), who gives a stellar performance so real and particular to her character that it took my breath away. She plays the woman, who has struggled with an unaffectionate husband and her own passivity and now finally finds herself utterly lonely, as she drags him along to work things out, doubting the future of their marriage, as she does.
The film is surprisingly confrontational and the crisis lasts almost to the very end of the film, where we desperately want the two to find each other, as the title and design of the film also seems to promise, (and of course, how could they not in a big Hollywood production?) 
Frankel has made another smart choice by having nice music that is more upbeat, but never annoyingly so or overly 'smart', to brighten up the drama a little.
In the end, Hope Springs is, obviously, a hopeful and happy experience; enveloping for its 100 minutes runtime and profound in its portrayal of modern marriage and some of its long-term issues. The film is an ode to romance and keeping romance alive in a long marriage, and I loved every minute of it.

Steve Carell is convincing in an almost purely dramatic part as the professional therapist in David Frankel's Hope Springs

The rich, intelligent script is written by a young woman, Vanessa Taylor, who enjoys success at the moment with her latest script for Divergent (2014). She has also written on Game of Thrones, Alias and other TV-series.
In small, supporting roles, Jean Smart, Elisabeth Shue and Brett Rice are all competent and believable without ever stealing away much attention from Streep or Jones.
The Maine setting (filmed in a coastal Connecticut village) is picturesque and looks like a nice place to visit. The look of the production is a far step from Streep's recent It's Complicated (2009), which is also a very funny and good film, because in Springs, we are brought more down to earth and get more reality: The characters of Kay and Arnold are written a bit like a Mr. and Mrs. John Q America, and their issues are also middle-of-the-road and not too specific, making them very relatable, - and Jones and Streep account for their likability at all times. I didn't find one unrealistic scene in the film. It has one scene in a movie theater involving some heavy intimacy that could be played for raunchiness or ridiculous laughs, but isn't; instead this scene epitomizes why Hope Springs is such a fine movie, and you have to see it to understand why. It is strong and truthful.
Hope Springs holds plenty of laughs as well as touching moments, as when the sessions get more intimate, and the couple's sex life and lack of one gets to be the topic of discussion. They are both very awkward talking about this and being intimate again, and it is quite wonderful to observe.
Ultimately, this is not a visually striking masterpiece, but a film that wins with its tremendous performances that get their appropriate space in a very fine script, handled with the utmost competence by all involved. Bravo!
Hope Springs hasn't gotten the positive attention that it deserves, I think, but I think it will stand the test of time and be reassessed and valued higher by many in years to come. There's only one thing to say:
Watch it! 

Related posts:

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Meryl Streep in another triumphant performance, in David Frankel's Hope Springs

Watch the film's trailer here

Budget: 30 mil. $
Box office: 114.2 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of Hope Springs?
Do you agree that it is an undervalued gem of a movie?