The Shape of Water-Review
The Shape of Water
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones, Octavia Specer, and Michael Shannon
Guillermo Del Toro has proven that he is a master of the weird and strange. Mimic, Pans Labyrinth, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and now The Shape of Water. Del Toro’s latest effort fits perfectly into his steam punk-horror style that movie audiences have really come to love.
![](http://www.geekspeak.tv/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Love-300x171.png)
The creature design for the Merman struck me as curious. Doug Jones is the actor behind the creatures performance and has worked with Guillermo Del Toro for over 20 years! The Merman resembles another character Abe Sapian from Hellboy. Even though Jones, who also played Abe, says that it’s in “no way related”, it was still kind of distracting. The two characters are similar in behavior and look. I kept wondering if there was some sort of connection to them. Abe’s origin in Hellboy was left as “Unknown”. I was looking for clues to a link while watching the movie which probably took my attention away from what was happening on screen.
![](http://www.geekspeak.tv/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Spencer-300x150.jpg)
There was one moment in the film where I did feel awkward and that’s when Elisa used her voice. I wasn’t sure what to think. The moment I’m referring to came during a day-dream sequence. Elisa was singing and dancing with the Merman. It was a cute black and white moment and a visual throwback to the silver screen days of motion picture cinema.
However, when Sally Hawkins started singing I couldn’t help but feel that people might find it offensive. The song was about being incomplete but then complete because they had found love in each other. Elisa had told her neighbor that she had felt incomplete because she cannot speak. When she meets the Merman she fills unusually connected to him. Neither of them being able to verbally communicate, Elisa begins to teach the Merman sign language and, over time, they connect on an emotional level.
![](http://www.geekspeak.tv/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/SallyAndMerman-300x169.jpg)
There were some questions with the main characters origin stories. Elisa had three equal length slices on both sides of her neck. Her backstory was that she was an infant found on the side of the river bed. She had those slashes on her neck and was unable to speak. Spoiler alert: at the end of the movie, as you can see in the poster, it ends with the two lovers joining together in the ocean and him opening the slits on her neck allowing her to breathe under water. Is this is a bigger story of two lost loves? As a Geek I couldn’t help but try and fill in the blanks.
![](http://www.geekspeak.tv/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Shannon-300x169.jpg)
Aside from the curious dance moment and the graphic explanation of how a crab would mate with a human I think that The Shape of Water is a beautiful contribution to cinema. Guillermo Del Toro continues to be one of the best directors of our time. He’s a true visionary and creator of unique and fantastic stories. A rare treasure to film!