Review: ‘The Shape of Water’ is surprisingly magical

MANILA, Philippines – Just a week after Valentine’s Day, cinema goers can look forward to watching a refreshing romantic tale from Guillermo Del Toro: the award-winning “The Shape of Water.”

 

The film is a magical and dark tale of love set in 1962 during the Cold War era, where mute janitress Elisa Esposito, portrayed by Sally Hawkins, is working at a government laboratory. She later on discovered the facility’s project, a strange marine creature (Doug Jones), whom she eventually fell in love with. 

 

Del Toro continued to display his signature dark fantasy in this film, considered by many as a fairytale, which adults would surely love.

 

The film may appear to have a simple plot but, it is good at blending and transitioning among its romantic, thrilling, comedic, action, musical, theatrical, and dramatic segments in over two hours, and yet it never veered away from its magical element. It is a story of pure love that worked with less storytelling. We can say that “The Shape of Water” is powerful as it sends viewers a message despite the few dialogues.

 

The film shines even more for having a stellar cast that includes Hawkins, Jones, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, and Michael Stuhlbarg. It is evident that the actors are comfortable with their characters as that they depicted the roles it in a very natural way. No wonder, most of the actors are nominated in the lead and supporting roles at this year’s Academy Awards.

 

Hawkins' performance in this film is something to look forward to as she has been able to make her character remarkable even without having a dialogue. The innocence of her character carried the whole film and complemented with Jones' scary and aloof personality.

 

The film’s color may be dark, but it continued to be visually appealing and did not fail to set the right tones in each scene. It may also be considered as fairytale, although we cannot say it is for younger viewers as it still has a few scenes with gore and violence.

 

“The Shape of Water” won major awards at the 2018 Critics’ Choice Awards and also bagged major honors as Best Film, Best Director, Best Production Design and Best Score. Del Toro was also awarded Best Director for a Motion Picture at the Golden Globe Awards. It is also among the most nominated films in the upcoming Academy Awards.

 

“The Shape of Water” by 20th Century Fox is now showing in cinemas nationwide.