Review: The Shape of Water

Set in the 60s, Sally Hawkins plays a mute custodial worker at a secret Government research facility that has recently required a creature of unknown origin. Hawkins develops a connection with the creature, which is able to breathe in and out of water. On the opposite end of the scale is federal agent Michael Shannon who tortures the creature to uncover its secrets and is an all-round arsehole to everyone else. Richard Jenkins plays Hawkins’ lonely gay friend and neighbour, Michael Stuhlbarg is a government scientist harbouring a secret, Nick Searcy is a military man, and Octavia Spencer is one of Hawkins’ co-workers.

I absolutely loathe Sally Hawkins, so this 2017 awards season favourite from director/co-writer Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth”, “Hellboy”, “Pacific Rim”) had me rather apprehensive going in. It turned out to be an interesting film with terrific elements that doesn’t overall come off as well as the film’s champions seem to think. For the most part I enjoyed it and a mute Hawkins proves not to be an issue at all. In fact, she really sells her character’s empathetic feelings towards the “Creature From the Black Lagoon”-esque creature, with a perfectly hateful Michael Shannon helping out on his end, too.

However, the film’s one flaw is that nothing Hawkins, Shannon, del Toro or co-writer Vanessa Taylor (“Hope Springs”, “Divergent”) can do ultimately sells just how close the two get. It’s lumpy and a tad icky, so I was never quite comfortable enough with it to truly go along with the film. Two minor irritations in the film come in the form of Octavia Spencer and David Hewlett. The former is wasted and needs to be careful not to get typecast as ‘sassy African-American lady’ (let alone in a custodial/subservient position!) parts no matter how good she is at them. The latter gives a WTF performance in a role of frankly no necessity whatsoever. The film would be stronger without them both, I think.

Still, in addition to Hawkins there’s some big plusses here that still make the film enjoyable and worthy of a recommendation overall. Although I’m no fan of musicals (at all), I really liked the Golden Age of Hollywood vibe del Toro gives to the film both visually and musically. Musicals aren’t for everyone (or me), but the additions here are stylistically consistent with what else del Toro has going on here. It looks a little muted and dark, but as shot by cinematographer Dan Laustsen (“Brotherhood of the Wolf”, “Crimson Peak”) it’s still very colourful and interesting to look at, as you’d expect from del Toro. The man has one hell of an eye, both fond of cinema history but also with his own skewed, entirely unique vision. The director also displays an affection here for striking Expressionistic imagery and set design for the laboratory scenes that I greatly appreciated. I also have to commend the usually overrated Alexandre Desplat (“The King’s Speech”, “Godzilla”, “Fantastic Mr. Fox”) for what may be his best music score to date. In addition to Sally Hawkins’ most palatable performance to date, Richard Jenkins is the acting standout, and is a perfect choice for narrator. Michael Shannon isn’t afforded his most 3D character, but he is perfectly cast as the film’s true ‘monster’, a hateful federal agent. Michael Stuhlbarg is also particularly good as a scientist.

An interesting, stunning-looking and mostly very convincingly acted film from a truly unique filmmaker. The lumpy sell of the central premise and a couple of unnecessary characters and performances hold this one back from being even better than it is. It’s frustratingly just shy of getting a higher grade. Hawkins and particularly Jenkins stand out.

Rating: B-