by lhb412 » Sun Jan 28, 2018 10:55 pm
Just got back from my second showing (much better audience this time: laughing at all the right bits and gasping at the right bits). The Shape of Water is a delightful film. A romantic comedy for Universal Monster fans, a gore-fest for the chick-flick crowd. This may be GDT's most broadly enjoyable and accessible film ever.
Doug Jones' 'Amphibian Man' was, of course, wonderful. Totally different from Abe Sapien, who was articulate and delicate while this guy is wild, strong and powerful. Incredible cast, some of the best actors working today in my opinion, so it's no surprise to me that Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, and Richard Jenkins delivered with excellent performances. Jenkins' character was probably my favorite. I empathize with them all, but related to him the most. Sadly, I didn't really know much about actor Michael Stuhlbarg. Looking over his credits list I see that I've seen him before but somehow hadn't recognized him before now. He's great, and he's apparently having something of a break-out year at age 49 so good for him!
In the leadup to the film the speculation on, well, fish-man sex was one of the loudest discussions about it, but what's great about this movie is how this movie reminds (in ways big and small) you that everyone is sexual. To me, showing that our heroine masterbates as part of her daily routine felt as big a deal as the human on monster love scenes. Similarly, I love how GDT handled the Sword of Damocles that hung over our heroes (a mute woman, a black woman, and a gay man) at all times by existing in America in 1963. It's so natural and just sunk into there fabric of everything, like the sun: you know it's there, but everyone tries not to look at it.
It's funny, because while The Shape of Water could have only sprung from GDT's headspace actually watching the film you feel he's stretching. Not in a bad way; he succeeds in branching out. Although certain aspects have GDT's recognizable fingerprints all over it (Shannon's character Strickland is one of GDT's trademark fascists) it feels different from every film he's ever made. There's a bit of Jean-Pierre Jeunet in the style, and a bit of Edgar Wright in the editing and use of quick montage, and overall it's less conspicuosly stylized and theatrical than his other American films, coming off the heels of his most theatrical (not that I'm complaining - different movies different approaches: Crimson Peak for life!). After seeing The Shape of Water I'm pretty confident that GDT could tackle many different genres and do them justice. Hopefully, still including monsters of course.
And speaking of GDT's 'trademark fascists': they just grow more and more relevant. The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth felt that more urgent on recent rewatch.