The Shape of Water paints beautiful imagery of a top secret research facility from the 1960s.
The movie is set in the Cold War era, and two cleaning ladies get an inside look on the facility. When a mermaid-like creature is brought in, the main character Elisa, a mute who lives her life mostly in isolation aside from a couple close friends, builds an unlikely bond with the creature.
The music track for the movie paints the perfect picture, and complements the film nicely. Elisa’s love for music is portrayed through her choice in vinyl records that she shows the creature.
There is quite a bit of nudity in the movie, so it’s probably not best suited for children, and there are a few racy scenes that were a bit shocking for a movie set in the 1960s, when a lot of these things were taboo.
Director Guillermo Del Toro is well known for his crazy costumes, and I was in awe of what the merman looked like, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t computer generated, which was really nice to see because almost everything these days is done that way.
The Shape of Water has enough impact to make you cringe, tear up, and feel a wide mix of emotions.
Typically, I don’t love subtitles, because I spend most of my time reading instead of actually enjoying the movie, but there was a fair amount of them in The Shape of Water. Del Toro got around this a little bit by having people interpret what Elisa was saying, and picking an actress that could portray the characters feeling through expressions instead.
The imagery in the movie was totally on point, following the 1960s theme of washed out teals, classic cars, and the outdated and unacceptable discrimination people believed back then.
I couldn’t help but feel a strange connection with Elisa, a woman without a voice, who cares deeply. Some things were just a little too strange to believe, but that was part of the fun of the movie.
I would give The Shape of Water nine out of 10 popcorns.
