Guillermo Del Toro's fantasy tale of an unconventional romance absolutely soars.

Rating: 10/10 (27 February 2018)

Its gone on record that director Guillermo Del Toro himself has said that The Shape of Water is the only film he is entirely 100% happy with. After viewing it twice now, I must admit that I also basked in his happiness by not wasting any time in making up my mind that this is the man's most majestic masterpiece to date. Eclipsing the then unconditional love I had for both The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth, this is a film that is utterly stunning, gorgeous and damn beautiful in its visuals, aesthetics and its now, BAFTA winning production design.
As much as it is another dark fantasy; examining the themes of love, loss, communication and language, Del Toro's magnum opus can also be regarded as a real compassionate love letter to the golden age cinema era of musicals and romantic comedies featuring the likes of Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, in a time period at the movies where absolutely everything had a happy ending. This is just one aspect of the movie that really helps steer you into completely believing in this unconventional central love story at its heart. Honestly, it's been a good long while since I've seen something on this scale that radiates of such sheer and captivating human beauty. This is further aided by Sally Hawkins' amazing Oscar and BAFTA nominated performance that instead of words, is able to convey so much through body language and human emotive feelings as a way of communicating with others and making sense of the world she lives in. She makes efficacious effort as an actress in the role of Elisa in potently using many of her different facial expressions whenever she is curious, happy, excited or angry as a simple yet very effective translation to audiences.
In terms of bringing this bizarre love story magically to life, renowned composer Alexandre Desplat, who I've been a long-time fan of, conducts a really hypnotising and wonderful score here that really sets and nails the romantic fantasy tone of the film. At times, hearing the score made me feel like this film transported me to the romantic city of Paris instead of being set in America. A truly mesmerising score that lends itself as an extra added character. Other accomplished cast members such as Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins and Michael Stuhlbarg all give excellent supportive performances to Hawkins' leading role but it's Michael Shannon as the main villain and real monster of the piece, who is truly on the same amazing par as Hawkins in terms of the highly impressive acting.
I've seen Shannon play a few villainous roles in the past but never have I seen him play one as ruthless, detestable and sadistic as he does here in the role of Richard Strickland; a government official responsible for bringing in the creature into the lab in the first place, as he takes an immediate dislike to this Amphibian like God, torturing and bullying it with every chance he can get. As a character, Strickland is someone who is very controlled and loves being able to live by his own rules and regulations. It's only when things don't go his way and he can't get the answers he wants, that all Hell breaks loose and things start getting ugly. Shannon was the perfect actor to play this evil antagonist role and I can't think of anyone else right now who would have pulled it off just as well as he did.
The best moments in the film are the scenes where Elisa and the creature are alone together. You really believe that they were destined to be together forever, the more they begin to understand one another. As their relationship grows the more times they're able to meet in secret, we begin to realise that the creature is a lot more intelligent than when we first see him appear. He too also responds well to sign language and communication, and particularly music. It soon becomes clear that both these characters are prisoners in a society that are too afraid to understand their motives and as a spectator, I wanted nothing more than to see these two break away free and live happily ever after.
Not sure if my words did complete justice to what a stunning masterpiece The Shape of Water really is but I'm hoping it's convinced at least a few of you to see it on the big screen. There is literally nothing about this film that I didn't like. An entirely flawless and incredible piece of cinema. I'm thrilled that Guillermo Del Toro won the BAFTA award for Best Director as he totally, totally deserved it. I seriously urge you to see this wonderful and uplifting abstract movie if you still haven't yet. I'm already tempted to see it all over again.