The Shape of Water. (No, it's not "The Help 2").
Had really hoped to see this in the theater but let's just say I had a "few things going on" these past few months. So thanks to iTunes and a bit of downtime this past week, I caught up on this and a few other Oscar contenders. Reports on those yet to come.
I'd seen the trailer for The Shape of Water several months ago and will admit that I did a considerable amount of eye-rolling. The concept seemed silly and contrived and I was fairly sure if I did see it, I'd be stifling guffaws when I was supposed to be welling up with tears.
In a word, "WRONG."
I'm not going to do a recap. If you've seen it, you know what happens. If you haven't seen it, I'm not going to compensate for your laziness by telling you the story. What I will tell you is that I loved every weird, quirky, gross, disturbing, funny, sad, poignant and romantic moment of it. The performances are across-the-board brilliant. There's a delightful Boardwalk Empire class reunion of the always-creepy Michael Shannon and the ever-present Michael Stuhlbarg. Sally Hawkins' Elisa evokes everyone from Audrey Hepburn to Amelie to Olive Oyl. I can't remember if Octavia Spencer had exited the scene where Shannon exasperatingly says "I can't believe I just interviewed the help." but damn...I hope she was still there to hear it. Richard Jenkins' reaction to the [spoiler alert] demise of one of his pets is worth the price of admission. And the guy who plays the creature? Well, day-um.
In the Unpopular Opinion category, I wasn't a big fan of Pan's Labyrinth so the del Toro connection wasn't a guarantee that I'd love this. But love it I did.
(bonus feature: did you know it's also a book?)
I adored this film. A beautiful adult fairy tale, told completely from the POV of the discarded & invisible whose lives are complex, rich and beautiful.
I am SO looking forward to reading here! Bravo for taking it up again!