The Shape of Water : Movie Review | facemandu

Movie Name : The Shape of Water
Genre : Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Starring : Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Doug Jones
Director : Guillermo del Toro

2018 Academy Award winning movie, The Shape of Water is directed by Guillermo del Toro. Starring Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer and Doug Jones and is the story of a mute woman who works at a science facility in the 1960s who encounters an aquatic creature. It’s being experimented on and something about this just doesn’t sit right with her. She’s also a woman who feels a little incomplete not just because she’s not able to speak but because she feels unfulfilled in her life. As a result of that, her neighbor, played by Richard Jenkins is an artist who also feels very unfulfilled and can’t seem to find his place in life.

A complete movie of being incomplete with life and how we can fill these voids in the people or things that we meet.

Hawkins and Spencer both play janitors who clean the research facility; so this gives them access to certain areas that they normally wouldn’t have access to. Hawkins starts to develop a relationship with this creature and that’s how we have a movie now! Del Toro’s last few films have disappointed me. I wasn’t a humongous fan of Pacific Rim and Crimson Peak. So going into The Shape of Water, I was excited based off of his knack for incredible visuals alone. But I was impressed not just with the visuals but with the astounding performances and that theme of being incomplete and being unfulfilled. Because so many characters in this movie feel that way. Even Michael Shannon as the evil villain the government official who is torturing this creature and trying to learn from it — even he doesn’t feel like he’s reached his levels of greatness. Yet everyone in this film has something about them that feels incomplete. Something that they haven’t been able to attain or something they desire and they need a void filled.

For Sally Hawkins character, this creature fills that void because the creature doesn’t understand the fact that she’s mute. They learned to communicate through sign language and so he doesn’t look at her as an incomplete person anymore. This is one of the few people or things that she’s ever encountered that looks at her that way and so immediately she’s taken aback by that. It is a story about a woman and a “weird fish monster” and it’s kind of a love story which could be a little creepy for some people and kind of a turn-off. But it’s not just about that. It’s about being unfulfilled in life and how we can fill these voids in the people or things that we meet.

It’s brilliantly acted. Everyone in this movie is giving top notch work. But let’s talk about the visuals because they leap off the screen. This is a visual masterwork. It’s beautifully directed, the cinematography is a lush, the colors explode off of the screen. It’s one of the best looking films of the year by far and also got nominated for Best Cinematography. This is a gorgeous movie and Del Toro once again has proven that he has such a knack for beautiful production design and choosing people to work in this set to make it look as best as it can. Doug Jones, as the creature, the suit that he wears and all of that makeup and prosthetic work is beautiful.

As for issues with the movie, I would say towards the third act it gets a little bit cheesy and a little predictable. I could see where it was going and it seemed like it ended at some point but then it continued to go on. Some of the pacing is a little bit affected by a sort of strange event that occurs and a side story that doesn’t always live up to what the rest of the film is doing. I could have used a little more time at the facility building because once certain things happen it does feel a little rushed. But besides, that I think this is a beautiful movie with one of Sally Hawkins best performances a great side plot with Richard Jenkins that I did not expect. It really says a lot about not just the 1960s but unfortunately today as well and it’s really powerful. Everybody in the film shines and has a startling message about how we fill the voids in our life and being unfulfilled as people.