Del Toro's Best English-Language Film To Date

Rating: 9/10 (24 January 2018)

"Water is like love, it has no shape. It takes the shape of whatever it inhabits. It's the most powerful element in the universe. It's gentle, flexible, but breaks through every barrier."-Guillermo del Toro
Despite del Toro's love for comics, gothic visuals, giant mechs, and practical monster effects; the famous Spanish director has always been a bit of a romantic at heart as demonstrated by the above quote.
From his more artsy Spanish films (Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth) to the more mainstream efforts (Hellboy and Pacific Rim), there is a touching reoccurring theme concerning the idea of societal outsiders and marginalized individuals finding solace within each other's company.
With his fascination with fairy tales, it seemed only a matter of time before del Toro took a stab at creating a straight-out romance tale, which comes in the form of his latest feature that gives a great twist to the "Beauty and the Beast" concept.
What makes TSOW probably one of del Toro's best films since The Devil's Backbone is that taken on a pure conceptual level, the inter-species romance angle could have easily been awkward and almost kitschy if done by lesser hands. But del Toro's mathematical but delicate storytelling, impressive set designs, and the incredibly layered performances from the silent Sally Hawkins and Doug Jones, despite wearing a thick rubber monster costume, turns TSOW into one of the most touching and honest romance tales in quite a while.
The performances in general are incredible across the board, arguably the best when it comes to del Toro's English-language movie canon. Hawkins is obviously magnetic in the lead but Michael Shannon as the openly racist research team leader Richard Strickland easily joins the canon of Jacinto (The Devil's Backbone) and Captain Vidal (Pan's Labyrinth) in del Toro's brand of genuinely terrifying but tragic human villains.
But the person that I feel really stole the show was Richard Jenkins, playing Elisa's down-on-his-luck friend/neighbor and closeted commercial artist Giles. Giles by far feels like the most down-to-earth character in this fantastical tale and you really do feel sorry for his plight in life. For most of the movie Giles and Elisa's coworker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) have to verbalize the mute Elisa's sign language; giving way to some unique interactions. Giles also provides some great subtle moments of comic relief.
Praise should also be level at the spell-binding score by Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Argo), giving a film with admittedly strange subject manner a timeless classy atmosphere that further contributes to the fairy tale quality. The accordion and whistle-heavy music that plays over the film's mesmerizing opening underwater dream sequence was the first sign that I was watching something truly special.
The movie on the whole has a magical Old Hollywood feel to the whole thing, which is something different compared to del Toro's previous efforts. It's not the type of Old Hollywood tribute that feels pandering either (Ex. La La Land), it all feels born out of genuine affection and is completely at the service of painting the film's intoxicating atmosphere.
TSOW on the whole is a pretty unconventional movie that is hard to pigeonhole into a single genre.
It's part "Beauty Meets Beast" romance, part creature-feature, part period piece, part fairy tale, part science fiction and part spy thriller. There is also the fact that this is an R-rated del Toro flick and while it's not nearly as violent as Pan's Labyrinth, there are a few scenes that will make you wince or shiver in uncomfortableness.
Even with the trailers it's obvious the distributor's Fox Searchlight Pictures could not crack the egg on how to market the movie. Hopefully it will continue to get more attention due to it's appearance on many critic's "best of" lists and with award season underway; but regardless del Toro's latest masterwork is one of the 2017's best.