Theater Whore: The Shape Of Water

The Shape of Water 11/10

There will be spoilers. I know that in the past I would not rate a movie beyond a 10. I wanted to do it with Baby Driver but did not. Fuck it. The Shape Of Water deserves more than a damned 10. This was one of the best movies I've ever seen and made me so happy that movies exist. I try to find one of these types of films every year and this year it has happened multiple times (Baby Driver, Thor: Ragnarok, Guardians of The Galaxy 2). 

Cam and I saw this today and we were amazed that they were able to develop so many characters in one film and not have anyone feel left out. I said that I don't need a prequel to this or a sequel. I take everything in this movie and have no more questions regarding what happened to the characters before this or after. It is fucking complete.

Elisa Esposito is played by Sally Hawkins. She is a shy mute woman that works in a strange underground factory as a janitor with her friend Zelda played by Octavia Spencer. One day while cleaning a lab this tank is brought in by the military and Colonel Richard Strickland played by Michael Shannon who is at his most Shannon-ist in this. He is like “Let's gut this fucking thing and get out of here!” Meanwhile Elisa starts communicating with the creature using basic sign language. Doug Jones plays the creature and with no speaking manages to put on one of the best performances of this damned year.

Richard Jenkins plays Elisa's friend and artist named Giles. This guy. He is a great example of a movie being able to do a lot with very little. In a few sentences and a look they were able to tell you who he was, what he did, what he wants, and what he can not have. Such thorough! Much detail! I don't even want to reveal more about this movie because I want people that read reviews before seeing movies to check this out without knowing all that much about it. If you like Pan's Labyrinth you will love this. Hell, I loved that movie and loved this one even more.

Guillermo Del Toro who directed this has reached his final form. If you've seen his movies like Cronos or Devil's Backbone you now he has an ability to make morbid shit feel real, scary, but beautiful at the same time. This movie should not have been as good as it was. On paper a film about a mute woman falling in love with a sea creature in a lab sounds like a strange ass sci-fi movie on cable. But in reality it is one of the best movies I've seen and had me staring at the screen the entire time smiling or horrified. 

One scene made Cam recoil and turn into a ball. Another one made me cross my eyes. Go see this movie as soon as you can. Fuck all those other films you're supposed to see because it is awards season starring Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, or old actors knocking on heaven's door. See this.

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