Elisa is a mute, isolated woman who works as a cleaning lady in a hidden, high-security government laboratory in 1962 Baltimore. Her life changes forever when she discovers the lab’s classified secret — a mysterious, scaled creature from South America that lives in a water tank. As Elisa develops a unique bond with her new friend, she soon learns that its fate and very survival lies in the hands of a hostile government agent and a marine biologist.
Year 2017
Director Guillermo del Toro
Stars Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon
From the minute I left the auditorium I made an educated guess that this would win an Oscar for best picture. Why you say? One word: ESCAPISM. Right now in our day and age with the next news crisis hitting us right in the face made easy with instant technological access, we get weary. As a nation full of such division and bickering sometimes we just want to go on an adventure that takes us far away from our social media screens and into a world of make believe. The Shape of Water delivers on these important fronts. From the instant the movie started I felt like I had entered an interesting dream that didn’t quite tell me where it was going. I was immersed. Three things I think helped with this immersion: the character development, the tone, and the environmental aspects.
The reason we tend to enjoy certain characters as much we do is that we love to watch them grow. In this picture not only do you see the main characters progress, but the side characters as well. You might not get a full spectrum of their lives due to smaller amounts of screen time, but you are provided with the telling pieces that give you a robust idea of what that character is like. By the end I felt like I had met every one of them. The cast did an amazing job. I had not had the pleasure of seeing Sally Hawkins in anything previously, but after this one I will keep my eye out for her.
An important staple of a good movie for me is the tone that it sets. This one struck me just as it should. There where a lot of deep blues and greens filtering each scene, almost giving an underwater feel the entire time; very fitting. I noticed a serious, but fun and flirty notion to it; almost like a dream. This helped the achieve fantasy feel and mood. I must note that it was not short on suspenseful situations. These of course are crucial to the story, and so that you don’t actually fall asleep.
Lastly, is the environment that makes the film what it is. It takes place in the 60’s and if you didn’t know already, I’m a sucker for past eras. It’s delightful to see a film really capture a time setting, especially one that you enjoy. One important aspect that stuck with me the most is that they don’t truly tell too much of the setting. They really focus much of their time on the what and who. They don’t riddle the scenes with unnecessary details and stick right to the storyline. Don’t get me wrong, they really do a good job into the scenery of the set, but you don’t get where it takes place or why this place exists, but that’s alright. We don’t need to know. It almost adds to this dream-like feel that floats you along with the story.
So… I’m not going to lie. I did change my ballot at the last minute with the whole alleged plagiarism situation the film is going through, but that did not seem to matter. I’m happy that Guillermo del Toro got this chance and honor. He has an extraordinary eye for fantasy and supplied us with it when we needed it the most. For that, he definitely deserved it.