Sally Hawkins, Octavia Butler, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones.
It’s not a Hellboy movie, but I can’t see anything else with Doug Jones once again in a fishman suit.
Oh fantastic, a new del Toro movie, I did not know this was coming. I love that he still gets to make movies, he’s like Gilliam in that I feel like his movies don’t make a lot of cash but they’re a real labor of love.
It looks good, but yeah, all I can think of is “Abe Sapien’s school days.” Obviously not attached to Hellboy, but it does have all that same feel.
I just saw this. While I’ve always appreciated del Toro’s passion for cinema, especially the way he champions ambitious projects that never see the light of day, none of his previous movies have really resonated with me. That said, I’m head over heels in love with this movie. The cast is fan-fucking-tastic, as is the Edward Hopper production design, and clever merman love story. The entire thing worked for me. The radical tonal shifts and multiple story threads should’ve felt jarring, but the whole world never stopped feeling internally consistent, so I never stopped being invested in the moment-to-moment narrative. It’s wonderful to see a film that enjoys nostalgia without shying away from casting a critical eye over it; these various misfits were just a delight. Sally Hawkins floored me. She was so earnest and sincere, which is what this piece called for. I’m so happy they didn’t trim this down to fit a PG rating. I’m officially a del Toro fan boy now!
First chance I get, I’m definitely rushing out to see this movie again.
Yes, Tibbs! I agree with so much of what you’re saying. I saw it earlier tonight and had a blast.
I’m very glad to hear you enjoyed it, too, Tim. The supporting cast, especially Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins, and Michael Shannon, were simply stellar! What a magical film. For the sake of future personal genre films, I hope it’s a huge hit.
Saw this as well with my bride and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Truly an excellent example of filmmaking: cinematography, casting, pacing, score… The Shape of Water is just a remarkably well-put-together film.
Go for the monster, stay for the love story!
I saw this last night with my lady friend, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it as well. In fact, I’d say it’s probably my favorite thing I’ve seen all year, which is a high bar as I loved Blade Runner 2 do, so much. This was just an amazing piece of work.
Wonderful film. Only criticism is the film should have been shot in B&W.
Went to see this today and absolutely loved it. Just top notch acting from top to bottom and I really appreciated the adult nature of the film. These two old ladies sat down next to me and I whispered to my date that I didn’t think this would be their kind of movie. I sorta changed my mind when they were enthusiastic about the Isle of Dogs trailer and almost apologized to them when they started talking Oscars at the close of the film. Couldn’t say I disagreed.
So del Toro won Best Director at the Golden Globes last night for this movie. His acceptance speech was so cute. Hopefully this brings a bit more recognition to this flick.
Well I don’t understand anything anymore.
This felt like a mess that had no idea what it wanted to be or who it was for, as it was so incredibly predictable that we were talking about incoming plolpoints minutes and even an hour before they happen. And the characters had no emotional resonance. Everything happens way too d fast and I didn’t feel for any of them. And the musical number is just embarrassing.
It’s like Amelie, but if Amelie had a parallel serial killer plot.
Ultimately, I felt the movie was trying to con me into liking it without actually doing anything worthwhile to make me care (well, the set design was OK, in a Dick Tracy sort of way) .
A huge disappointment, since I was expecting to like it a lot.
In the retelling of a fairy tail, everyone knows the plot in advance…
I watched this last night, and it was my favorite movie of the year, probably one of my favorites of all time, both dizzyingly ambitious and successful in nearly every respect. So much more imaginative than other movies about movies (I’m looking at you, Tarantino). So many brilliant things in this movie I keep remembering more.
One of my favorites as well, really surprised there’s not more forum buzz about it
Such a strange and bizarre and entertaining movie. Totally a Guillermo passion project. Amazed this thing got greenlit but I am so glad it did.
I thought it was more Amelie + Free Willy by way of Dagon, replete with a fairy tale-like love story for adults with a cold war backdrop.
I saw this with the GF on Saturday. What a refreshingly great movie. Nothing like the rehashed drivel of most everything that comes out, lately. We both absolutely loved it. We laughed, we cried, we were shocked, we were on the edge of our seats. It was such an awesome ride.
Of all the things about it, a description is the toughest part. And I think it revels in that, from start to finish. From the opening scene as you wonder what’s wrong with this woman before you, to the immediate ice breaker when she goes to take a bath, the movie shocks you to tell you, “pay attention. Everything means something here. There will be more.” And oh man, there is so much more.
The lighting and tone of the movie changes with the direction it heads, as do the colors and atmosphere. Every little detail stands out, like the 50s look and feel of the place and time, as well as the creature. But within all of that, people dealing with the problems of today.
This is a masterpiece of direction, for sure. The acting was also extremely good. If this doesn’t win several oscars I will be shocked.
If we are throwing out, ‘similar-tos,’ I’m summarizing it as Beauty and the Beast, plus 50’s horror, plus a bit of a thriller.
Good post Skipper. I love the description of her bath as an icebreaker. That’s how I watched it too, but it didn’t occur to me to describe it that way until I read your comments. The movie was pretty unique and I really enjoyed that about it.
It’s hard to know what the director was going for, but that scene seemed so shocking that the only way I took it was as part of the ride. “Oh boy, here we go.” Even before then, her dream was underwater, so you start confused as to what’s going on, followed by that shocker. But then as things went on, you realized everything fit in place. She’s dreaming about water. Oh, she masturbates in water. Wait, this is a water creature … duh! She’s a loner dreaming of a romantic connection and her only friends are her neighbor, and her coworker, two people who explicitly give her permission along the way to seek and find her path. She’s taken with classic romance in musicals and cinema, and her love interest, despite being the creature, follows that path as well: She helps him, they bond, they build a fondness for each other, she helps plan his escape, he saves her from danger, and they go off to live happily every after. Each piece I saw in the beginning led to an explanation later on. It was fantastic storytelling. You didn’t leave wondering how or why, you understood as it happened.
The symbolism didn’t escape me but by GF picked up on more of it. A disabled woman, a gay man and a black woman come to thwart the plans of the overbearing and overzealous white American patriot, assisted by a Russian that gets a change of heart. I mean, if I made a movie I would probably do the same thing just for the extra laugh.
I loved it.
We saw this as a family the other night and quite enjoyed it. It was not at all what I expected it to be, and the whimsical, almost storybook telling of it kind of threw me off for a few minutes. It reminded me a lot of the TV show “Pushing Daisies” from a few years back… which is fine, because I quite liked that show.
I can easily understand why del Toro won Best Director for this – the shots, sets, design and colors were all really spectacular and he got great performances out of everyone. That said, as much as I enjoyed it, I’m not really clear on why it got Best Picture – it was inventive and hit you over the head with its intertwining themes of loneliness and alienation, but… I dunno.
Over in the Oscar thread some summarized it as a nod to him for prior movies not this one. I’m not sure I buy that. The story had direction. It didn’t rely on the themes presented in some of the other contenders, instead it was an adult fairy tale, easily understood, digested and enjoyed. I think in this current environment, it’s what members of the academy needed, thus the nod and eventual win.
That may be unfair to some of the other lead contenders, but it is what it is.