The Shape of Water

This film was extremely imaginative and gorgeously shot. At the heart of it, the film is about a girl who falls in love with a fish. But it adds so many gorgeous elements to it to make it feel like you are watching an epic. The acting is phenominal, especially Sally Hawkins and Richard Jenkins. Worth checking out!

The Shape of Water (2017):

I would say this is the kind of film that's more of an experience rather than a movie. Walking out of it, it feels like you just had a really beautiful, odd and emotional dream.

Now I'm gonna warn you right away, this isn't a movie for everyone, but I think if you're the right kind of person for it, you already know that you'll like it. It's very art-house, it's very Guillermo Del Toro, it's very weird.

Overall I really enjoyed "The Shape of Water", it leaves you with a good fuzzy feeling in your heart. I loved seeing every frame of it since Guillermo has a very distinctive and stylized look and tone. He manages to create a real world but with a dash of magic and fairy tale to it. The cinematography was absolutely astonishing (especially the colours), set design/costumes/etc were fantastic, the creature was really cool and pleasant to the eye (good mix of practical and CGI), the acting was good (even though the Russian was iffy).

My only problem with the movie was the fact that it felt a little too long, I think a couple of tiny things could've been cut here and there and the movie would've been just as good. There's also a couple of things that felt unaddressed but as the viewer you let it slide and forget about them since you're focused on the main story.

Basically, if you knew about this movie and you were interested in seeing it, see it. If you don't know anything about it or the works of Del Torro, probably don't.

If I had to boil it down (egg joke) to a score it would be somewhere around 7.5/10

P/S

Do NOT see it with kids unless you want to have some VERY awkward moments.

It's a time when being different was discouraged, by how you looked, by how you hooked, by how you foraged, in a world of prejudice, the overwhelming emphasis, was to align, to toe the line, to be acknowledged. Elisa's mute, but she still has things to say, using Zelda as a surrogate airway, together they both clean, where there's things that go unseen, behind one doorway there's a place she likes to stay. In this place something's imprisoned and interned, Elisa shows it love, the tides begin to turn, a connection has been made, it's time to escape and evade, logistically that causes some concern.

Sally Hawkins is as spectacular as ever in an imaginative tale that reflects a world of the past, but not forgotten or disappeared (sadly).

The Shape of Water, the Oscar winning film about an unlikely love between a humanoid amphibian and a mute woman set in the early 1960's. The movie was greatly directed by director and screenwriter Guillermo Del Toro and acted by award winning actress Sally Hawkins with supporting actress Octavia Spencer. The movie is full of hope and desire as the lead characters explore love in a unique way that is different and unnatural. The movie will have you shed tears, in suspense, and thrilled by shocking twists and events.

"Unable to perceive the shape of you, I find you all around me / Your presence fills my eyes with your love, It humbles my heart, For you are everywhere." -Giles, The Shape of Water

I must admit that I was surprised to learn that this film won 4 Oscars, though I'm just as surprised by the many negative 1 and 2 star reviews that it has received. In terms of ideas and creativity, 'The Shape of Water' is as good as any film I've seen in the last few years. With a storyline as inventive and unique as this one, it makes for a fascinating couple of hours of viewing and, if you like films that take risks and dare to be different, there is a lot to enjoy about it.

For all its ideas and creativity, however, 'The Shape of Water' is lacking in some areas and can make for frustrating viewing at times. The storyline is underdeveloped in areas, particularly towards the end where there are many unanswered questions and the ending itself is a little underwhelming. That said, 'The Shape of Water' deserves credit for injecting fresh ideas into the fantasy romance genre. It might not be worth 4 Oscars, but 'The Shape of Water' is a unique and captivating film.