‘The Shape of Water’ delivers a startling form of unconventional romance that mesmerizes and tingles the soul.
The latest from del Torro’s string of masterpieces, the film is a sublime creature spectacle that finds the genre at its most vulnerable depth-melancholic, utterly heartbreaking.
The monster on exhibit is an amphibian humanoid brought to a government lab, where the mute, but incredibly charismatic–well, to beings of unconventional forms, at least–Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins), works in a nightshift.
Said to be the most sensitive asset ever held by the facility, the Amphibian Man draws the attention of scientist Robert Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg) who believes the creature is of great scientific and humanitarian importance, that it must be kept alive to be studied. His idealistic rationale is opposed by the government agent, Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon), who thinks the creature must be dissected, destroyed to extract possible substances that might be of help in defeating Russia in the looming Cold War.
But Elisa, who finds herself fascinated with the unusual being, begins sneaking into the creature’s chamber to form one of the most amazing connections ever made between beings of different forms. That is not a strictly figurative observation, because there really is magic between Elisa and the Amphibian man, which is barely conjured out of verbal correspondence, but of purely intimate, wordless gesture of unalduterated romance. This turns the film largely a reimagination of ‘Beauty and the Best’, but one so refreshingly haunting, it rips hearts apart.
Guillermo del Toro crafts an indelible masterpiece that transcends the magic of love between different creatures, so powerfully and heartrendingly it conjures a haunting beauty out of sinister and horror.
RATING: 4.5/5
5 – Excellent
4 – Very Good
3 – Good
2 – Tolerable
1 – Terrible
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