The Shape of Water * * *
Why on earth is this silly film being nominated for so many awards? Why do I have to ask this same question year after year? Either I don't recognise a great film when I see one or the awards have nothing to do with greatness.
The Shape of Water is a fantasy story. It's mildly amusing but that's about it. There is nothing profound here. It's a bit Beauty and The Beast, a bit Romeo and Juliet and, as an acquaintance I met in the foyer afterwards perceptively noted, quite a bit Free Willy.
Sally Hawkins plays Eliza, a cleaner with no vocal chords. She works in a lab which seems to be like a precursor to NASA. Michael Shannon plays a very bad heartless man, Richard, who has found an amphibious creature in South America and dragged it back to the lab to be experimented on, but he spends more time torturing it than doing any productive work with it.
Eliza feels for the creature and bonds with him. It look very much like a handsome version of The Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Eliza lives next door to a closet gay commercial artist, Giles, who's work is being rejected. He buys lots of pies from a pie shop so he can look at the handsome young attendant. Giles and Eliza are good friends.
Wanting to liberate the creature from the lab Eliza hatches an elaborate plan with Giles and soon finds help from other unlikely quarters. I won't spoil it for you by letting you know if she is successful, but if you still care at the half way mark I guess the movie works a lot more for you than it did for me.
It's hard to knock The Shape of Water because it's lovingly made (Director Guillermo del Torro certainly has his own vision) and there is really nothing wrong with it. It's just light and forgettable.
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| Meeting the parents should be fun... |
Sally Hawkins plays Eliza, a cleaner with no vocal chords. She works in a lab which seems to be like a precursor to NASA. Michael Shannon plays a very bad heartless man, Richard, who has found an amphibious creature in South America and dragged it back to the lab to be experimented on, but he spends more time torturing it than doing any productive work with it.
Eliza feels for the creature and bonds with him. It look very much like a handsome version of The Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Eliza lives next door to a closet gay commercial artist, Giles, who's work is being rejected. He buys lots of pies from a pie shop so he can look at the handsome young attendant. Giles and Eliza are good friends.
Wanting to liberate the creature from the lab Eliza hatches an elaborate plan with Giles and soon finds help from other unlikely quarters. I won't spoil it for you by letting you know if she is successful, but if you still care at the half way mark I guess the movie works a lot more for you than it did for me.
It's hard to knock The Shape of Water because it's lovingly made (Director Guillermo del Torro certainly has his own vision) and there is really nothing wrong with it. It's just light and forgettable.
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