The Shape of Water:
     (An abused, humanoid fish species can find love with a woman and I can't even get a text back.)

After a successful Christmas,  I took a day off work and went to go watch the highly anticipated The Shape of Water.  My interest in this film started over ten years ago when my buddy Guillermo Del Toro was in talks to direct The Creature From the Black Lagoon  remake but then it fell apart. When I first learned about The Shape of Water my excitement returned and came to think of this as an unofficial Creature re-telling and in a way it could very well be seen that way.

At it's core, this movie is about the two simplest human emotions, love and fear.  The fear of loving and hate through the fear prism.  Stepping back, this film is a beautifully emotional love story set in the worst sociopolitical climate this country has faced.  1962, when the seeds for what would culminate in the hell that was 1968, were starting to sprout.  First, there is the looming threat of nuclear war leading to violent and illogical decisions being made by the "good guys" vying to make America great.  Secondly, the film conveys the oppression and discrimination of minorities and women in general. Since the female protagonist is mute, all of the civilian dialogue in this film is uttered by minorities, mostly a Black woman and a gay man. It is refreshing to have these be the voices that help further the plot along.  In spite of the less than ideal omniscient environment, the protagonist clings to her beliefs and feelings to the point of putting herself in danger, when even her friends try to convince her to do otherwise.  The Shape of Water serves as a shot in the arm to the remaining unyielding hopeless romantics left among us. 

Water is used as a motiff for transformation, everything that water touches in this film gets transformed; eggs, furniture, relationships.  The "amphibian- man", or "river god" in this film does not have a name but is mainly called "the asset."  For simplicity's sake, I will refer to him as the creature (as opposed to Creature proper). This film flips the roles of  CFTBL and asks, what if the human woman is the one attracted to the creature?  Not only this but unlike the the in 1954, the love is reciprocated!  Not just seemingly superficial "woman in a bathing suit" attraction but an attraction founded by mutual bonding that inevitably leads to love.  Deep emotional love but also gentle inter-species intercourse. At first,  I was bothered by the love scene and wondered what the necessity was to include (as opposed to allude) it in the film.  I felt it kind of minimized/ridiculed  the sweet relationship between Elisa and the creature.  However, soon after, I remembered CFTBL also had a sex scene that they couldn't show back in 1954 and just had the creature swimming horizontally below Julie Adams and this was just an update of that.  Secondly, I realized I was looking at the scene as an audience member in a theater, influenced by the groans and laughter of the other people in the audience.  Thinking critically, for Elisa, the relationship is not only real but the creature is the only being she feels and is able to get close to in all possible ways so in her mind, this is not unusual. Keeping this in mind for the entire film will make it easier to understand the thinking that goes on in Elisa's head. 

Other than the aforementioned swimming scene, there are only a couple of Creature references in this film and they don't go beyond the basic connections. Still, they should be pointed out if only for reference.    The "asset" looks like 90% Creature from the Black Lagoon and 10% Abe Sapien (from del Toro's previous Hellboy films).  Secondly, like the Creature, this being is Latino (from South America). As stated, throughout the film government agents refer to this guy as "the asset". However, at one point, somebody calls him "the creature" and it instantly filled me with nerd joy.  The first glimpse we get of this creature is his webbed hand, much like the first glimpse we get in CFBL is of a fossilized webbed hand (before the repeated teases with the creature's actual webbed hand and the repetitive tri-tone theme).  It could also be argued that this is a re-imagining of Revenge of the Creature where the Creature is chained up in an amusement park tank and studied. Lastly, CFTBL was released in 1954, on the cusp of the official August 1955 "Space Race" date.  Still, Americans were fascinated with space and nuclear mutation and the cinema fed into these fears and curiosities.  Movies like Them! (also released in 1954), This Island Earth (1955) and The Deadly Mantis (1957) dealt with unknown, possibly extraterrestrial and possibly nuclear mutations of natural things.  If insects and reptiles could be gigantisized, then the notion of a pre-historic missing link is not that far fetched. The Shape of Water takes place on 1962 where the fear of the Soviets and the nuclear unknown was high.  There is talk of dissecting this creature to see if anything can be learned to equip man for living in space, a nod to what would be the Creature's last on screen appearance, 1956's The Creature Walks Among us. 

The performances and cinematography should be noted for helping bring Del Toro's complex and emotive story to life.  Michael Shannon is especially phenomenal with his resting a-hole face and performance.  Sally Hawkins is both compelling and convincing as Elisa and even though she is mute, somehow has great chemistry with Octavia Spencer.  Dan Laustsen's muted color palette for each location seems just right,and how about that teal Cadillac?  This movie also has a tremendous soundtrack for purists like me.   The ending had me excited for the payoff but also had me questioning how and why I bought in to this story as much as I did.  In the end, everything comes together very well to create a touching story that sounds ridiculous on paper and really has to be experienced.   This is hands down Del Toro's best film to date. 

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