Shape of Water

As a child, Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) could have been called odd. She was found abandoned with mysterious marks on her neck and the inability to communicate with others. Except via sign language. Years later Elisa lives alone above a cinema in Baltimore, working every day at a secret government laboratory. Its 1962 and the Cold War is almost ablaze. The lab has a new creature living in a tank that was captured in a South American river. It is being treated as a future weapon of war but it might be much more...

The only place to begin this review would be with the ongoing issues which surround it. From the awards that it has been drenched in. To the battle over the films apparent plagiarism. Both are to have been expected. One because it is a very well directed film. With good core performances, a subtle script and a wonderful world built to house it all. The other is more simplier. He may have stolen elements of the idea (I doubt it more complimented them) but such a universal story of love crossing barriers, adversity or even race has been created any number of times. In various films, books or even fairy tales that thousands could be a source of inspiration. However what has been done differently here is the skill in which are tale is told and that must be acknowledge (and rightly has been).

You see the very thing that draws a crowd for a Del Toro film, becomes the reason it excels above the ordinary. Many of the classic period film directors in the studio system would have jumped at the chance of directing this film. In a way Del Toro is just reliving what they did in this film. This is to transform the visually stunning sets to cinema that plays with the gothic, absurd and the surreal in equal measure. His pallette is coloured deep and rich green, grey, blue and silver. All richly captured by Dan Laustsen wonderful cinematography. Del Toro, with pronounced visual form, provides a compassionate translation. He has evolved past just the rich and comic book visual and excelled passed the simple tale here. Extending it to mythic heights.

To some of his fans this is exactly what they expect but we might have missed the point of the whole. A story here that is simplistic enough to allow range for Del Toro to find the discourse of his choosing. From his focus on the darkness of history to the political dimensions of the love story as immigration parable. Crafting focal points that deviate from expectation. Merging themes of adversity, isolation, exclusion and oppression. He might seem to some to have misstep. Sally Hawkins, Jenkins, Spencer et al give us solidly toned performances. That are enriched by the art of Del Toro. It is his film and as such deserves praise above all. A masterpiece.