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Movie-making art

March 14 - 20, 2018
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Gulf Weekly Movie-making art

The Shape of Water 

Starring: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon

Director: Guillermo Del Toro

Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

Rating: PG-15+

RUNTIME: 123 Mins

 

Perhaps the most buzzed-about film of the season, The Shape of Water is a sincerely astounding achievement not just as a motion picture, but as a piece of art.

It’s no wonder it scooped up four Academy Awards, including two of the most coveted, Best Picture and Best Director for Guillermo Del Toro.

The premise itself is inspired by Del Toro’s reimagining of classic monster stories such as Frankenstein or Beauty and the Beast, much the same as some of his earlier work, including Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy.

At a top secret research facility in the 1960s, a lonely mute janitor, Elisa, played by Sally Hawkins, forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature, played by Doug Jones, that is being held in captivity.

The story is set against the backdrop of the Cold War, with tensions rising between America and Russia, about to reach a dangerous boiling point.

To say this is a good movie feels like a gross disservice. To say it’s perfect is meaningless. To say that it’s wondrously-crafted, using Del Toro and Sally Hawkins’ unique kind of magic, feels the most accurate.

This is a film that feels like it could only have been made at this moment in history, and it is so convincing in its authenticity.

Sally Hawkins is delightful, Amelie-like, nestled into her role as the mute Elisa. She is wonderfully peculiar, and even more wonderfully unperturbed by the peculiar. Water is her element, from her morning routine of boiling eggs for lunch, to her cleaning job in the facility, and she thrives in it better than in the real world.

Michael Shannon as Strickland is captivating, a man used to being the alpha and the omega. He listens to no one but himself, and that makes him all the more dangerous. He’s a critical part of this fantastical love story, down to the cartoonish arch of his villainous eyebrow.

It wouldn’t be a team of misfits without the lovable bumbling Richard Jenkins as Giles, Elisa’s neighbour, or Octavia Spencer as Zelda, her work friend. They are all outsiders, which in their case, becomes their advantage and superpower as the story goes on.

There’s a lot of beautiful homages to the 1960s that shape the setting and score of the film. The characters are nostalgic for the ‘Golden Age’ of Hollywood, in love with Vera Lynn and musicals like Hello, Frisco. The villain drives a Cadillac DeVille.

It plays out like an alternate reality, a dystopian bio-punk fable with amphibious creatures and psychotic antagonists. Visually stunning, magical, vintage.

The score is enchanting. It saunters along like a dance, going between cabaret and tap, set to a gramophone-worthy soundtrack. Considering Elisa’s muteness, the sound is all the more powerful.

It’s no wonder Alexandre Desplat picked up the Academy Award for Best Original Music Score alongside all the film’s other accolades.

Once in a while, a film will come along that is ravishing, eccentric and whimsical, all in one. It is clear in the case of The Shape of Water that no one but Guillermo Del Toro could have conceived of something so unique.

Just as it’s clear that no one but Sally Hawkins could have portrayed Elisa. She may be mute, but she doesn’t need words for her voice to be heard. Hawkins was nominated for more than seven prestigious awards for a role where she didn’t say a single word.

The Shape of Water is a magnificent work of art, and possibly the best film I’ve seen in recent years. It’s not something anyone will be forgetting for a very long time.

Now showing in: Cineco, Seef II, Dana Cinemas, Wadi Al Sail, Mukta A2, Al Jazeera

 

Anna’s verdict: 5/5







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