The Shape of Water is a fairy tale for adults, an odd blend of fantasy with Cold War period piece, a science fiction romance. It's directed and co-written by Guillermo del Toro, his most acclaimed effort since Pan's Labyrinth. There's a lot in common between the two films, too, though this one generally strikes a lighter tone.
The story revolves around Elisa, a mute woman who works as a janitor on the night shift at a secure military facility. Researchers at the facility have brought in a strange aquatic (but humanoid) creature, hoping that experiments on it will yield advances for the space program. Russians want to get their hands on it. The Colonel who captured it is a ruthless sadist who would just as soon kill and dissect it. Elisa sees in the creature a kindred spirit, and in secret forges a bond with it that begins as friendship before blossoming into something more.
The movie is meticulously crafted, with visuals as painstakingly composed as you could imagine. It's not subtle, with the dialogue calling attention (multiple times) to the color choices already obvious throughout the film. Everything is vibrant while being pastel, like an old photograph beginning to fade with age. The camera placements often suggest photographs too, or more accurately, a storybook page brought to life. The world is a little "more real than real" -- more detailed, more colorful.
The performances are great. Sally Hawkins earns her Oscar nomination for this performance as Elisa, conveying great depth and emotion without words. She's supported by an outstanding cast from top to bottom. Michael Shannon plays as intimidating and deplorable a baddie as he's ever played. Michael Stuhlbarg brings much needed nuance and empathy to a role that could easily not have been sympathetic.
Two other performances besides Hawkins also received Oscar nominations. Richard Jenkins does a lot to lift up what I'd say is the weakest character on the page. He's a struggling artist whose subplot sort of falls off halfway through the film, and whose character arc feels incomplete. Jenkins is good enough to make you see overlook the shortcomings. Then there's the wonderful Octavia Spencer. I'm tempted to say she's phoning it in a bit here, playing a similar character as she did in The Help and Hidden Figures. The thing is, though, even if this is easy repetition for her, she's just so damn good at it, funny and entertaining and warm throughout. I can't begrudge her the nomination.
If I'd been in charge of handing out the Oscar nominations, though, I would have made sure to give one to Doug Jones. He's the actor playing the "Amphibian Man," as the credits identify him, and it's hard to overstate what an accomplishment the performance is. He's covered head to toe in makeup that looks uncomfortable at best, and was likely just plain painful. He's in water most of the time. He has no dialogue to work with at all. How he could get any kind of performance at all through all those layers of difficulty is beyond me, and in fact he gets a very moving one. (Plus, I would have taken geeky pleasure in watching Jones play Saru over on Star Trek: Discovery, knowing that the currently running Star Trek series had an Oscar nominated actor in the cast. Alas.)
Though there's much to appreciate about The Shape of Water, it's also not a perfect film. The fairy tale nature of it occasionally swerves a bit into cartoonishness, becoming too light to mesh well with the primary romance or the secondary suspense. There are those dangling plot threads surrounding the Richard Jenkins character. Overall, though, it's an enjoyable enough movie.
I'd put The Shape of Water at a B+, though high enough in that range that it slides into the #5 slot on my list of the Top Movies of 2017. Having seen 6 of the 9 Best Picture nominees so far, there are two I'd put higher than this. Still, #5 on my list would be high enough for a "nomination" if I had awards to give.
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