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The Shape of Water
USA 2017
produced by J. Miles Dale, Guillermo del Toro, Liz Sayre (executive) for Double Dare You, Bull Productions/20th Century Fox
directed by Guillermo del Toro
starring Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones, David Hewlett, Nick Searcy, Stewart Arnott, Nigel Bennett, Lauren Lee Smith, Martin Roach, Allegra Fulton, John Kapelos, Morgan Kelly, Marvin Kaye, Dru Viergever, Wendy Lyon, Cody Ray Thompson, Diego Fuentes, Madison Ferguson, Jayden Greig, Karen Glave, Danny Waugh, Dan Lett, Deney Forrest, Brandon McKnight, Cylde Whitham, Jonelle Gunderson, Cameron Laurie, Evgeny Akimov, Sergey Nikonov, Vanessa Oude-Reimerink, Alexey Pankratov, Shaila D'Onofrio, Edward Tracz, Joe Vercillo, [Amanda Smith
story by Guillermo del Toro, screenplay by Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor, music by Alexandre Desplat, creature suit and special makeup effects by Legacy Effects, visual effects by Mr. X
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Somewhen in the 1960s: Elisa (Sally Hawkins) doesn't have much in life:
She's mute, which makes her awkward to almost anyone, her best friend is
her fatherly neighbour Giles (Richard Jenkins), and at work, only
African-American Zelda (Octavia Spencer) has struck a friendship with her.
Ah yeah, work: Elisa works at a high security gouvernment lab - as a
cleaning lady. She's thus looked down by all other personnel of the place
and considered almost invisible. But one day she finds out the truth
about what they're researching at the lab: an amphibian man (Doug Jones) -
and seeing the scientist at the place mistreating him, she immediately
sympathizes and identifies with the creature. And thus, in her lunch
breaks she sneaks into the lab and feeds, communicates and strikes a
friendship with the amphibian man. However, Strickland (Michael Shannon),
ruthless military head of operations, wants the creature killed and
vivisected asap, especially since at one time it had torn of his fingers.
This goes against the will of scientific head of operations Dr Hoffstetler
(Michael Stuhlbarg), but when it's science vs military, science always
loses. But Hoffstetler is actually a Russian spy, so with his comrades he
makes up a plan to free the creature - and is distraught when Russia just
wants to dispose of the creature once freed. At the same time Elisa makes
up a plan to free the creature with the help of Giles and Zelda, and her
plan actually works better - and when Hoffstetler realizes that Eliza
actually wants to save the creature, he secretly sides with her. And thus,
before long, Elisa has a sea creature in her bath tub, one she knows she
has to release into the ocean before long - but not before the creature
has become her lover. Thing is, Strickland wants the creature back at any
price, and who's Elisa to stop him ... The Shape of Water
shows Guillermo del Toro at top of his form: Basically, the film is a
science fiction tale set in front of a Cold War backdrop, but del Toro
makes a mix of fairy tale and gothic romance out of it, in story of
course, but also in style, where he turns his 1960s props and sets into
sources of wonder, gives the whole thing a dreamy feel via music and
lighting, and uses a ton of references (first and foremost of course Creature
from the Black Lagoon) to create something highly original. Pretty
much a must-see!
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