"I'll bet you $100 you can't make a successful film that spans all of the major genres..."

Rating: 10/10 (16 June 2020)

I don't know if Guillermo del Toro actually made this bet with someone or just challenged himself to do it. In either case the gamble paid off.
What does a filmmaker, a magician or anyone else who is the best of the best do to challenge themselves? If you can do something faster and better than anyone else, what's next? Well, let's see if you can do it while holding your breath underwater...
Along with all of the other wonder and fantastic accomplishments of this film, the goal of seamlessly spanning all possible genres was probably the most ambitious. While I was watching this film and noticed the genre-bending nature of the beast, I thought, "Is that what he's trying to do? Hit all of the possible genres?" Spy thriller, romance, campy comedy, horror, period drama and dozens more... My answer came later in the film when a character began to sing -- a musical -- bingo! Yep, that's what he's doing, he wants to hit all the genres. That, and a million others things that filmmakers try to do in their films: send a message, create art, evoke emotion, tell a story...
And he was successful at them all -- including the genre-spanning feat. I recently panned another film in a review here for mixing genres and styles because it was obvious that that other film did it by mistake. But I'm praising 'The Shape of Water' for spanning genres because it intended to. No one else has ever successfully done it before, not to this extent, but now del Toro has, with perfection.
If you've read my other reviews, you know that I normally try to give a critique of a film's racial inclusion and treatment, but I actually saw this film awhile ago and I honesty don't remember enough details to do that here. In any case, one of the messages of this film is that love has no boundaries, not of race, not even of species. I wish more movies included this type of message. We need it.
So what kind of film was this? Some see a comedy, some see a fantasy, others just see a monster movie. What are the contours of this genre? Well, it has none -- like all great art, it simply takes on the contours of the vessel it's poured into.
10/10 (submitted 15 June 2020)