Member review

In my opinion, the film, ‘The Shape of Water’ is beautiful and alluring, in plot and visuals, with a very intriguing take on inner beauty and the classic statement to ‘not judge a book by its cover’.

The shape of water is a beautiful story about a mute woman called Elisa (played by Sally Hawkins) who works as a cleaning lady in a high-security government laboratory in 1962 Baltimore. Her life changes forever when she discovers the lab's secret, a mysterious creature (played by Doug Jones) that lives in a water tank. As Elisa develops a unique bond with her new friend, she soon learns that its fate and very survival lies in the hands of a hostile government agent (played by Michael Shannon) and a marine biologist (played by Michael Stuhlbarg).

The Shape of Water is a very interesting and unique film on how it is based in the 1960’s, but seems to be a narrative for Trump's America, on how minorities are treated differently, in this case, mutes, black women, homosexuals and of course the amphibian man. This film in particular has quite a unique take on the amphibian man, as it has been used in movies since he first appeared in the film ‘Amphibian man’ in 1962, but is usually presented as the monster, terrifying and hurting innocent people and is up to the government agents to prevent it, however the shape of water reverses that role by making the amphibian man the hero and the government the villain, which perhaps could be mirroring the opinion on the filmmakers on the government and how they treat specific people, especially in America. When we think of America, and especially in movies, anything that is different they ‘shoot first and ask questions later’. It is especially interesting how the writers were able to get the characters to engage with the audience, without the two protagonists saying a word. What isn’t up for debate is the appearance of the movie, which is beautiful with the use of colour, even in places such as the main characters home, which is quiet dull in colour, but has a very rustic look to it. Even with the appearance and clothes chosen in the film, in which the main character played by Sally Hawkins starts the movie off by waring very dull coloured clothing but as the film progresses along with her identity and confidence she begins to wear colours like red.

After seeing the film, it is no wonder why this film has received 21 awards, including the award for best picture and award for best director, which is no surprise being directed by Guillermo del Toro, with films such as ‘Crimson Peak’, both ‘Hellboy’ films and ‘Pacific Rim’. In summary, The Shape of Water is an exquisite film on how a bond between two people can transcend hate and prejudice, which is something that is needed in the world we are living in today. If you are a person who enjoys romance films that go out the ‘norms’ of the romance genre, then I would definitely recommend this film to you.