‘The Shape of Water’ (review by Chris Antonowich)

Produced by Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale
Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor
Story by Guillermo del Toro
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Starring Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon,
Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones,
Michael Stuhlbarg, Octavia Spencer

Communicating is easier than ever in this day and age. Yet with every new innovation, it seems as if we are actually heard less and less.

Such is the dilemma for The Shape of Water protagonist Elisa Esposito, a mute custodian who works in a high-security U.S. Government research facility circa 1962.

At the height of the cold war, Elisa leads a relatively invisible life, relying only her co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) and roommate Giles (Richard Jenkins) for friendship and support.

Esposito, brilliantly portrayed by Sally Hawkins, struggles to connect with just about anyone (or anything) else in her life. But her luck is about to change, as she and Zelda become privy to a new arrival at the facility; a half-man, half-fish creature (Doug Jones) from the Amazon. A rare and exotic creature that is considered to be a deity by the natives.

It’s too bad that his captor, company man Strickland (Michael Shannon), is hellbent on exploiting this deity to punch his one-way ticket to the top of the American Dream. He and his bunkermates have plans to do some half-assed autopsy on a fish (credit Murray Hamilton’s Mayor Vaughn in Jaws) so that the Russians can’t get information on his amphibious breathing techniques or healing properties.

While Strickland counts the days down to his victorious vivisection, Elisa bonds with the creature during after-hour cleanings. She brings him food, introduces him to music, culture, and teaches him sign language. It’s a lovely yet heartbreaking juxtaposition when paired with the cruel beatings Strickland inflicts on the creature.

Once Elisa learns about the fatal plans for the creature, she formulates a plan with Giles and compassionate lab scientist Robert Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg) to extract the “asset” from the facility and house it at her apartment until it can be returned to the ocean. Their well-hatched plan becomes a comedy of errors, but ultimately the joke is on Strickland as Elisa makes her anonymous escape with the creature in tow.

This is where the film makes a hard turn from time-period fantasy to what can best be described as an interspecies romantic drama. It’s as if Writer/Director Guillermo del Toro actively challenges the audience to take the plunge off the deep end and suspend all disbelief. It’s a fair request and one I’m certainly prepared to do when considering del Toro’s impressive resume.

Yet, what prevented me from taking this full-on triple-lindy was that the first half of the film effectively establishes the perils of the cold war era; rampant paranoia, imperialism, jingoism, racism, sexism, cultural appropriation and sexual harassment in the workplace (…we’ve come a long way, baby). The love story between Elisa and fish-man, while believable as two souls longing to be understood in a chaotic and strange world, gets really silly, really fast.

Nevertheless, del Toro keeps the viewer guessing at the end of the film as to whether he’s really going to tear your heart out or simply leave you breathless. And a film as beautiful as The Shape of Water deserves all of your attention and respect, even if it’s not the best interspecies sex drama released in 2017.