Just the other night I watched The Shape of Water. I got it from the library and began watching it having almost no idea what it was about, who directed it, anything- just that it (maybe?) was a romance between some kind of amphibious man and a beautiful dark-haired woman(?).
I know, it had lots of Academy Awards buzz and whatnot, but I don’t have cable, I rarely go to the shoddily-maintained movie theatre in my small town, and apparently I live under a rock. I’ve been really busy ok! T-T
After just the first couple of scenes, I knew it would be my kind of movie. It was immediately apparent that I was in for a journey that would be a bit whimsical, artfully directed (those colour palettes, tho!), and not afraid to go places that were a little transgressive.
I won’t go deeply into the plot, as this is a spoiler-free review, but I will say that when I learned that it was directed by Guillermo del Toro I was not surprised. I greatly admire del Toro’s work- I appreciate how he doesn’t underestimate his audience’s capacity for comprehension, doesn’t pander to the widest audience possible, and balances quiet, charming scenes with short but arrestingly graphic ones.
Sometimes to enjoy del Toro’s vision, the viewer must permit herself to suspend disbelief and question where (or whether) a scene blurs from reality to something more poetic and conceptual.
When I discovered that the film was directed by del Toro, I wondered if Doug Jones was the actor who portrayed The Assett/The Creature, and sure enough, he was. I mean, to be fair, the creature in this movie does resemble Hellboy’s Abe Sapien (also played by Jones) more than a little bit- not that that’s a problem at all!
Doug Jones is a talented actor with a long and impressive filmography to his name, yet many people don’t know his face because his roles often involve full-body prosthetic. To any person who thinks that donning heavy prosthetics equals lazy acting, guess again. Doug brings characters brilliantly to life with his subtle, carefully executed physicality.
^he also undoubtedly sat patiently for countless hours while experts carefully pieced together all of these looks onto his body!
The Shape of Water tickled my fancy quite a bit, and so I drew a little picture with ink and dip pen.
And then this happened and it kinda blew my mind
FJKRNGKJQAMKFAMDKLM!!! Whoops, I fangirled a little there.
So, if you haven’t seen it yet, go watch The Shape of Water! I’m certainly planning to add it to my personal film collection in the future.
HideNGoShauna 