Remember Abe Sapien, the awkward fishman from Hellboy? Now he gets a spinoff in his own film form. And the film is romance. Nobody likes this and I don't think anyone is expecting it. After watching it myself, I feel that way. Hehe. Not really. This film is not Hellboy's spinoff, but it is romance. Not showing Abe, but indeed there are fishmen. As for the fourth and fifth sentences, I'm kidding. Hehe. But seriously too.
But indeed, the fish is played by Doug Jones, the actor behind Abe Sapien. The film was also made by Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro. The Mexican director is a true auteur, a master in building a world that truly lives in the film. He seems also interested in (and adept at attracting) the dark side of fantasy stories. Through Pan’s Labyrinth, he made adventure films for adults. Meanwhile, The Shape of Water is a romance for adults. Both are built from elements of horror-fantasy.
This is also an amazing film. Del Toro creates beautiful films. He directed Dan Laustsen's camera to always move, creating a dreamy sensation. His attention to the details of the production system makes all the elements come together into a universe that spoils the eyes. Reportedly, del Toro only spent around $ 20 million, but the world looks very immersive and rich. For fishmen, del Toro prefers using prosthetics instead of CGI. This gives a real impression and sense of weight that is not obtained from the special effects of the computer.
Basically, the story of this film is like Beauty and the Beast. But Del Toro rejects the definition of innocent romance, because the film has a sexual touch too. I think this is what will make ilfil a part of the audience that gets carried away by the hype "The Shape of Water is one of the most romantic films". The film is too uncompromising for viewers who expect sweet romance. In ordinary romance movies, love is too sacred for sex. However, this is not the case with the real world, right?
As with Pan’s Labyrinth, reality cannot be coexist with fantasy. Del Toro combines it in such a way that we immediately believe in whatever imagination it presents. The imaginary opening scene for The Shape of Water prepares us for all the strange possibilities that will occur. We are invited to tour the apartment that seems to be under water. "This is a story about a dumb princess and a monster trying to destroy everything," Giles said (Richard Jenkins) to us.
"The princess" in question is Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins). I can't speak, but she's not a daughter, but only a cleaner in a government laboratory. Living in an ordinary apartment, his life was mediocre. Elisa seems to be living happily everyday, but as a speechless person, she is a person who feels separated from the world. Lonely.
To be honest, the people around Elisa are also the type of lonely people. Especially if you remember the background time in the 60s era. Neighbors of his apartment, Giles is an old gay who is stopped working and always sad when spending time in the cafe where the cashier is handsome. His best friend, a fellow cleaner, Zelda (Octavia Spencer), the talkative woman was a black woman. Already cleaners, women, blacks too.
This feeling will bring them together. This feeling was the one that immediately brought Elisa closer to a (?) Fish man who had just been captured and held in a government laboratory. In his hometown, Amazon, this fish man was worshiped as a god. But here he is considered as an object of research that is ready to be executed and autopsied while being tortured with electric batons by the head of a sadistic facility, Strickland (Michael Shannon).
The political situation is a crucial backdrop for the film as Pan’s Labyrinth with the Spanish fascist era. This is the Cold War era, where Americans and Russians are competing to show who is the greatest. Professor Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg) was assigned to study fishmen so that America could be better off than Russia, but he might have a separate agenda. Strickland's own motivation for abusive behavior is toxic masculinity, a product of the old-fashioned paradigm in his era.
This is also what will later become a motorbike as well as a barrier when Elisa and friends struggle to save the fish man from the party who wants to help him. How come Elisa wants? All because of love, of course. Elisa certainly knows how it feels to be incomprehensible and cannot express it so as to find some kind of connection. Fishmen also can't talk, but obviously can feel. They handle each other. And his love is not just any love, but love for adults.
Yep. And this is where I find a strange feeling that I can't ignore until I finish watching. Their relationship is a crazy relationship. Okay, the romance between Naomi Watts and Kong is just as crazy, but King Kong films have a fundamental reason that makes them plausible; the jijay aspect has evaporated because Watts caring about Kong as much as Kong cares about Watts character. In The Shape of Water, I don't feel the spark of romance between the two. Elisa may indeed love, because she diligently brings boiled eggs or plays music, but what about the fishmen themselves?
This complaint may be personal. In the middle of the film, there was one scene that was very intimate but I couldn't buy it. It's up to them to do anything. I do not believe this happened, because it has not been taken to sink in the depths of their relationship. When making sensual gestures, could this be just Elisa's selfishness to seek escape from her loneliness? That is why the final part of the film seems to be weak and for me personally it doesn't really matter. Love conquers all, but we need to have it first.
So do I not like the movie? Not really. Del Toro is a visual storyteller and this latest film is no less amazing. This is a fantastic film to watch. The craftmanship is amazing. Acting players are strong, especially Hawkins who must bring emotions only from body language and expression. Although it lasted 2 hours, I did not feel the slightest bit bored, even though the payoff turned out to be as deep as I intended. I think the specialty of The Shape of Water is still sinking somewhere.