The Shape of Water [DVD] [2018]

After some misgivings, a rewarding pleasure to watch.

Acclaimed director Guillermo Del Toro brings us a fantastical love affair story. Some reviews have called this a fairy tale for grown ups. If this was a book, they'd call it magical realism.Set in a slightly stylised 1960's cold war America, Elisa [Sally Hawkins] is a cleaner at a government research facility. She's also an orphan. And a mute. Thus able to communicate only by sign language, she gets by. Thanks with the help of her fellow cleaner and friend Zelda [Octavia Spencer] and her lovelorn neighbour Giles [Richard Jenkins].But her life is changed when a ruthless government agent [Michael Shannon] brings a humanoid amphibious creature from swamps in south America to the facility. He's determined to use the creature to help his country get ahead in the cold war. And yet the creature and Zelda, two beings who can't speak, find they have a bond.Is there any way they can live happily ever after?Obviously a little suspension of disbelief is required here, but if you can't do that, it is your loss and I feel very sorry. Elisa is a character who likes life. There is a moment five minutes into this when she shows that, and you can't help but love this film from then on. It's an utterly captivating and beautiful story of someone and something finding love that doesn't need words.And in addition to the great lead performance - two actually, given sterling work from Doug Jones as the creature - the supporting cast are simply amazing as well. Richard Jenkins and Michael Shannon and Octavia Spencer create incredible characters. And there's subtle work from Michael Sthulbarg as Bob, a man torn between duty and his scientific instincts.The film keeps you on tenterhooks as the lovers battle to be together. It does lose a little pace in the final quarter once it has to search for a resolution, but a memorable one it manages to find.Superb filmmaking on every levels. Writing, acting [it's also nice seeing American tv stalwarts like Nick Searcy and Nigel Bennett get a movie role as well] directing, some eye catching production designs, and a simply beautiful score. It does get a fifteen certificate as it is pretty graphic with adult moments and violence and some strong language. And it does obviously have some moments in subtitles that can't be turned off. [Some people don't like that so I had to mention it, ok? doesn't bother me] but if you can get past all these things and just get swept up by this film, you'll love it.Well worth five stars. And the Oscars.The dvd has the following language and subtitle options [it does say English only on the box but I have checked the disc and these are on the menu]Languages: English. Italian. Russian. Ukrainian. It's also English audio captioned.Subtitles: English. Danish. Finnish. Italian. Norwegian. Russian. Swedish. Estonian. Latvian. Ukrainian.The disc begins with an anti piracy ad and a generic blu ray one, but you can skip both with the next button on the dvd remote [which is nice as most discs won't usually do that with the former]Extras:Three cinema trailers for the film. Each run two mins. Can be watched individually or all in a row. The second and third are red band trailers, which means they do feature strong language.Then there's a fairy tale for troubled times. A four part half an hour long feature about the making of the film. It's in four sections:Love in a time of war. All about the film. five minsSummoning a water god. All about the creature. ten mins.Shape form and function. All about the design work on the film. ten mins.Aquatic melodies. All about the score. Five mins.As making of features go, these are really good. With some interesting insights into the creative process. So all well worth a watch.

I love this film, it is layered and nuanced.

Distracted by the awful prosthetics of the monster

And when you discover HOW the water scenes were produced ... the film graduates to Legendary status. Beautiful story, beautiful cinematography.

I do like Del Toro; his best movies are absolutely top drawer- best fantasy “Pan’s Labyrinth” a strong candidate; best ghost story “The Devil’s Backbone” best comic book adaptation “Hellboy”; best vampire movie “Cronos”; best giant robot movie “Pacific Rim”; all candidates for the best in class, although the last is really beneath him, as it’s a genre of mostly crap anyway.This movie has many, many things to admire. It explores some astonishing themes, the effects are superb, the creature beautiful, the heroine a delight, the villains really villainous, the ending an improbable delight, the acting fabulous and so on. Yet the language is annoying and unnecessary, and there are aspects of the relationship the film could have done without for me.My biggest problem, though, is that I was never fully engaged with the movie. In “Pan’s Labyrinth”, for example, you feel Ofelia’s every pain and fear even when she gets it wrong, but here it’s not quite so involving. Personally, I think in PL and TDB, Del Toro has made better films. But hey, it’s a good movie. It’s not to me quite a great movie, especially by Del Toro’s standards, but it is good.

I start this review in saying Sci Fi/Fantasy is not really my genre of choice. I was recommended to watch this film as a gay man that has all too often been made to feel like an outsider in this heteronormative world. This powerful film really made an impact, It has a real heart and some strong messages we can all learn something from, I soon forgot the sci-fi/fantasy element and got enveloped into the story. Great actors and filmed in an usual but enveloping way. It ready a wonderful touching story that left me believing in true love and acceptance.