Love, like water, has a mutable shape.

Rating: 8/10 (24 February 2018)

The Shape of Water is Guillermo del Toro's latest epic. We follow Eliza (Sally Hawkins), a mute cleaning assistant and her friend Zelda (Octavia Spencer) as they work deep within a military facility in Cold War United States. Of interest in this facility is "The Asset", an amphibian creature of deep intelligence and equally deep ferocity. Its captor, Strickland, is an unfeeling sadist who cannot love but can control and torment. He simply wants a promotion from his military superiors and tortures The Asset at every turn.
Thankfully for the Asset, he is discovered by Eliza, who befriends him and helps him escape to her apartment space, which she shares with Giles, an advertising cartoonist who is falling behind the times, as photography is taking over at present. Giles and Eliza communicate well and he helps her store our amphibian friend, and ultimately befriend and save it. The Shape of Water offers much beyond the story, however. It is a visual treat, the interior of the mysterious facility rendered with a remarkable sterility, Giles' apartment comfortable and replete with a bachelor's sundries. References to Soviet spies abound, and one is in fact an integral part of the story.
See the Shape of Water for its brilliant acting, fine special effects and perhaps even to regain hope for love between differences.