conjuring mystery and romance

Rating: 9/10 (21 February 2018)

The Shape of Water is a bizarre but comforting, romantic and even sexy movie -- "less a movie than a conjuring" per one critic. I'm not a fan of monster movies, but this one is less about a monster than about myth, imagination, and connection. I'm sure it also holds far more references than I noticed, from the mute named Eliza (though the cast list spells it Elisa) to a Dr Strangelove persona, and many references to other monsters. It's also about color palettes, shifting dramatically through browns and golds and shades of blue and green.