"Life is but the shipwreck of our plans"

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2017)

"The Shape of Water" (2017 release; 123 min.) brings the story of Elisa. As the movie opens, we see Elisa getting ready for work. She and her friend Zelda work as janitors at a restricted government research facility. Along the way, we learn that Elisa is mute. Then one day, a new "asset " is delivered to the research facility. Mysterious at first, we learn quickly that it is some sort of amphibious creature. Elisa is immediately drawn to it. But the guy running the research project, a no-good scientist named Colonel Strickland, and his boss General Hoyt, have other ideas... What will happen to the creature? At this point we're 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this is the latest fantasy story, if not fairy tale, from Mexican writer-director Guillermo del Toro ("Pan's Labyrinth"). Here he brings us a story that in its essence is a variation of "Beauty and the Beast", or even "Creature from the Black Lagoon" and the original (1932 and 1976) "King Kong". The movie is set in the late 50s or early 60s (at one point, on of the kids asks if he can watch Bonanza), and in fact the overall feeling of the movie is as it it was made in that era, rather than today. The Location of Elisa's apartment, above the Orpheum movie theater where "The Story of Ruth" and "Mardi Grass" are playing, only increases that overall late 50s/early 60s feel. The set productions is first rate all the way. The way del Toro directs the movie reminded me more than once of Steven Spielberg. Sally Hawkins is outstanding as Elisa. That makes two noteworthy movies this year for her: earlier this year she was equally stellar in "Maudie", but watch her pile up the nominations for this film come the awards season (she already picked up a Golden Globe nomination). Last but certainly not least, there is a wonderful orchestral score composed by Oscar-winner Alexandre Desplat, and I'm going on record that he will score another Best Movie Score Oscar nomination for this.
"The Shape of Water" opened up this weekend at my local art-house theater on not one but two screens, a rarity. The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended very nicely, I'm happy to report. Given the overall quality of the movie and the nice counter-programming to the inevitable blockbuster that is "The Last Jedi", I can see this having long legs at the art-house theater circuit. Every day Elisa picks up a "thought of the day" from her wall calendar, and on a certain day the thought is "Life is but the shipwreck of our plans", and that certainly also seems to be the case for this movie, but in the best possible way. "The Shape of Water" is a WINNER.