The Shape of Water *** (2017, Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Doug Jones, Richard Jenkins, Michael Stuhlbarg) – Movie Review 

Writer-director Guillermo del Toro’s fabulous-looking 2017 monster movie The Shape of Water is set against the backdrop of 1962 America in the Cold War era. Technically a brilliant achievement, it won the Golden Lion award at the Venice International Film Festival, as well as four Oscars, including Best Motion Picture.

Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer star as cleaners in a hidden high-security US Government facility, guarded over by the nasty piece of work that is Strickland (Michael Shannon), complete with cattle prod.

Sally Hawkins plays Elisa, a cleaner in a hidden high-security US Government facility.

Elisa (Hawkins) and Zelda (Spencer) discover Strickland is planning a secret experiment on the Amphibian Man (Doug Jones) they have found, intending to get Dr Robert Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg) to kill and dissect him/ it. The Russkies have other ideas, wanting to take Amphibian Man alive. Elisa has other ideas, wanting to rescue Amphibian Man, and get him back in the water, with the help of her older gay friend Giles (Richard Jenkins). 

Del Toro’s film is a half-hour short story padded out to two hours by lots of weird detail, and dressed to the nines, or quite possibly tens, to make it look like a dazzling retro art work. Amphibian Man is The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) reborn. Jones does it well, but, like the movie, it is something that looks good and that’s more or less all.

The film company calls it an ‘other-worldly fairy tale for troubled times’, and there is definitely a touch of the Beauty and the Beast about it, as Elisa inevitably falls for the Amphibian Man, and he for her. But that’s as far as it goes. I should say it is a very adult fairy tale, as sex and violence are on the menu. Eventually, it gets quite inappropriate in both areas, rather spoiling the fun.

It is also a tale of the dispossessed. Elisa is plain, lonely and unable to speak, Giles is older, plain, lonely and gay, Zelda is an oppressed African American woman, Dr Robert Hoffstetler is misunderstood, and Amphibian Man is the monster, or the beast. All are going to unite to try to defeat the forces of darkness – the hateful US military (Nick Searcy as General Hoyt), the Russkies (Nigel Bennett as Mihalkov) and, of course, the real monster, Strickland.

Del Toro tries to push the charm button, the retro button and the old movies button real hard, and that’s kind of the trouble – the effort shows. Nothing here flows freely. The acting from a fine, quirky ensemble is impeccable, just like the cinematography and art direction, but it is all there to paper over the cracks in the thin screenplay by Del Toro and Vanessa Taylor.

Having the main character as unable to speak gives the dialogue-free Hawkins and Del Toro a lot of problems to find ways to mount to charm attack they are after. The on-screen titles explaining Elisa’s sign language are clumsy, and so is getting her to tell another character to speak her sign language lines out loud.

Octavia Spencer is Oscar nominated as Best Supporting Actress.

The film is sometimes hugely charming but it is also strained and frankly a bit dull and slow some of the time. Dan Laustsen’s cinematography and Paul D Austerberry’s production designs are absolutely incredible though. Visually, it is a monster art work, a beast of great beauty.

The Shape of Water gained 13 Oscar nominations and won four: Best Motion Picture, Best Directing, Best Original Score (Alexandre Desplat) and Best Production Design (Paul D Austerberry, Shane Vieau, Jeffrey A Melvin). It won two Golden Globes – for Best Director – Motion Picture and Best Original Score – Motion Picture.  It won three Baftas: Best Production Design, Best Original Music and Best Direction.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Movie Review 

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

Guillermo del Toro wins the Oscar for Best Achievement in Directing for The Shape of Water (2017).