|Romantic Dark Fantasy| - Guillermo Del Toro's "The Shape of Water" - Film Review
It was 48 hours before the Oscars and I'd only seen two out of the nine films nominated for Best Picture. As a Guillermo del Toro enthusiast, I decided to watch The Shape of Water before the big night. Lo and behold, that is the only movie I needed to watch before the Oscars. Del Toro took home the big prizes of Best Picture and Best Director with all the right reasons.
The Shape of Water is your not-so-typical romance story between a mute woman and an amphibian who is under a secret government facility she works for. This is a good film in which the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover" would be put into good use.
Yes, it is a forbidden love story.
Yes, it sounds weird because it might as well be categorized as bestiality.
But that is nothing when the context and theme of the story is added into the conversation.
As Del Toro mentioned himself, this is a story which talks about many topics we deal with nowadays: Racial discrimination, prejudices, and problems with authority. All portrayed in a fantasy film made by a filmmaker who is well-known for his terrifying monsters.
The characters are odd but they're interesting and loved because of said differences. Let's take Elisa, our protagonist, as an example. She is a lovely and cheerful woman whose optimism and creative way of seeing life make the audience fall in love with her. When she finally gets to meet that someone (in this case, that "something") who doesn't judge her because of her disability, the audience can surpass the whole concept of a woman being in love with an amphibian and instead root for her to get to be with said creature.
At first, I didn't know what to expect from it. I was not sure how much of this film was going to be all just romance and how much was going to be fantasy. All I've known from Guillermo were his magical creatures and worlds. Knowing this was categorized as a "romance, fantasy film", I was as ready as any moviegoer going into this first-hand. In the end, the film does a good job at distributing its main points and themes without being an odd romantic flick and actually taking time to get to understand the protagonist, the antagonist, and even secondary characters.
We learn about Elisa's daily routines and her perspective at life. We learn about the people she spends most of her time with: Her neighbor and artist friend, Giles and her coworker, the sassy Ms. Zelda Fuller. We even get to learn about our antagonist, Colonel Strickland, the man who caught this creature in the first place, and his desire to be the best of the best.
These are all characters who have their certain charisma but have the same sense of being unfulfilled and feeling incomplete. Some try to fill their void through materialistic means, while others find it through someone else. Like Elisa does with the creature.
"When he looks at me, the way he looks at me... He does not know, what I lack... Or - how - I am incomplete. He sees me, for what I - am, as I am. He's happy - to see me. Every time. Every day..."
Giles (interpreting Elisa)
Even if that was not his main purpose, this is a film that can be enjoyed for its beautiful cinematography, its story, its characters, and themes which can be expanded into a bigger and more important discussion. It's a fantastic movie with visionary imaginary and a fantastic story of people and their search to fill their void. I am glad I saw it before its big win and this is a film I will definitely watch more than once. With its final lines still stuck on my mind.
Comments
Post a Comment