I didn’t hear so much about The Shape of Water before it came out in local cinemas. I remember seeing the trailer once but I wasn’t really paying attention. Once the nominations for this year’s Oscars were announced, however, it piqued my interest. It has the most nominations this year with 13 including Best Picture and Best Director for Guillermo del Toro. If you’re familiar with his work, you know that his films are always out of the ordinary and feature obscure creatures.
So after a few days of contemplation, I decided to watch The Shape of Water. Bonus: Donatella Versace also suggested everyone watch the movie in Vogue’s 73 Questions. If you have not seen it yet, please stop reading at this point and go watch it first.
Yes, before even booking the tickets, I had high expectations for the movie. I blame myself for reading some reviews first. But believe me when I say I was not disappointed. The first thing that drew me in was the music. It was a mix of 1960s love songs, French tunes I couldn’t understand but sounded beautiful, and an original score, which was also nominated for an Oscar. For me, the music playing the background was a great setup for the whimsical story that was about to unfold.
Next were the characters. The lead character Eliza is mute and has every day planned out down to the way she prepares to nap on the bus to work. Despite feeling alone in the world because she can’t speak, you’ll see how passionate she really is. So much so that she’ll break a few laws to save the only one who “does not know what I lack or how I am incomplete. He sees me for what I am, as I am.”
The amphibian-like creature does not have a name but he was beautiful. My eyes would immediately dart to him everytime he would appear in a scene. Fun fact: The actor who played the amphibian man is Doug Jones, the man behind Saru in Star Trek: Discovery, Abe Sapien in Hellboy, and Fauno in Pan’s Labyrinth. There are even some articles going around playing with the idea that The Shape of Water is connected to Hellboy. Well, the characters do look similar.
From beginning to end, the movie mixes things together that seem off but maybe that’s the point. Most scenes are set in a government laboratory where they hide the country’s secrets and running around are a group of ladies in charge of cleaning. They see so much weird sh*t like severed fingers but that’s part of their job. And of course, you have the love story between Eliza and the amphibian man. It seems taboo but you can’t help but root for them.
The final scene is a mix of emotions and stress. There are bullets flying and rain pouring down. “How is this going to end?” I thought. Well, Guillermo leaves you with what seems like love lost but lets you breathe a sigh of relief as we all find out why they were drawn to each other in the first place.
Art by Yayie Motos
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