A surreal fairytale that's far more effective than it should be.

Rating: 9/10 (25 February 2018)

This film is quite special for me. It's the first film (aside from standard Marvel/Star Wars etc. films) that I've actually been excited for, and anxiously awaiting it's release. Since it came out in America first, I also heard how good many people thought it was.
Now, I haven't watched nearly as much of Guillermo Del Toro's work as I would have liked, and that's something i'm working to change, but I've enjoyed everything I've seen that he was linked to. This is the first of his works that I've seen in the cinema, and at this rate, he may end up as one of my favourite directors. Everything he does has tremendous style, whether it's a surreal 1960s romance featuring a fish man, or monoliths of metal and monsters clashing. Of course, The Shape of Water looks gorgeous despite it's relatively small budget of 19 million dollars. Despite how much I enjoyed Black Panther, TSoW had a budget 1/10th of the size and in my opinion, looked better. The creature effects were brilliant, and Del Toro captured the feel of the setting wonderfully.
The music was quite gorgeous, and fit the setting remarkably. The soundtrack sounds like songs you might have heard at the time. It also captures much of the morbid whimsy the film holds throughout.
Speaking of morbidity, I was surprised by the violence throughout the film. Despite my excitement for it's release, I'd never actually noted it's rating. I'd assumed it to be a PG-13 or something of the sort, but it holds (and earns) a hard R rating. The gore was almost distractingly good, and depending on the scene somebody watches, they could be forgiven for thinking they were watching a horror film.
Surprisingly, I enjoyed every performance in the film. Sally Hawkins made good on a tremendous task; her character Elisa is mute throughout the film, and as a result, all of ehr acting must be done through body language and facial expression. This fact, coupled with the older setting, often reminded me of the classic silent films. Octavia Spencer also does wonderfully, and the duo have great chemistry despite the lack of words between the pair. Richard Jenkins also brought some much needed levity to many situations, while Michael Shannon gave our antagonist legitimate vulnerability, keeping him from remaining a simple, bland villain.
Every character is interesting in their own way, and it's quite interesting seeing how this group of outcasts interacts with one another all throughout. There is a mute woman, a black lady, a gay gentleman, a Russian spy and a literal fishman, yet they all feel more human than our villain, despite how the world of the film may portray them.
The plot, for the most part, is rather odd though I imagine this was intentional. The whole film feels rather akin to a fairytale, albeit a far more mature one with nudity and blood. Many times throughout the film, I felt extremely uncomfortable, though I feel this was the intended reaction; it really added to the scene, and the film overall. Even though I could tell the vague direction of the plot from the trailer alone, I wasn't at all disappointed after watching the film. The journey to the destination was far more important in this instance. I imagine you could even watch this film chopped up and reassembled in the wrong order; it looks simply gorgeous.
Though, of course, I may be biased due to how excited I was for this film, I struggle to find many flaws with it. It just seems to have clicked with me, and at the risk of rating two films extremely highly right next to each other, I shall give this film a 9.5/10, especially due to it's budget. I don't give it a 10 simply due to a few moments which didn't land for me, personally.