The Shape Of Water Review

Containing a warm fairy tale beneath its grim facade, the greatest strengths of the latest Guillermo Del Toro film are also it's limitations.

“That's why I like fairy tales; they portray facts, not organized politics, religion or the economy. Those things destroy the soul.” – Gilmore Del Toro

    As a film that was released in the United States when it was released in the United States (under 17 years old, it needs to be watched by adults), when it was released in Hong Kong, it was divided into "three-level films" (approved for those who are 18 years old), "Water The core of Story is actually pure and innocent. Aside from the violent, erotic, and political elements on the surface of the film, this film is actually a better bedtime story, and this tone that seems to be "inconsistent" is related to the film's screenwriter and director Gilmore. Del Toro is related.

    Gilmore del Toro is probably the most innocent of the directors who are active in Hollywood today, and this is more or less apparent in all his works. From the "Malay of Pan God" which restores all kinds of strange monsters that have only been seen in children's dreams, to the scene of the brain that is almost filled with a little boy holding two toys, the scene of the brain is put on the big screen. This Mexican fat man's movie always contains some children's whimsy. The "Water Story" is no exception. Although it seems to be the most "adult" movie in the director's work, it really does a childlike purity and tells a beautiful fairy tale.

    This story took place in the United States in the 1960s, an era that seemed to be full of hope and seemed to be in crisis. This is what Gilmore del Toro is interested in. He believes that by setting the story in the 1960s, the story becomes a typical "fairy fairy tale", so that the audience can better focus on the characters and the dilemmas they encounter, instead of Think more about the background. Such a state of mind is destined to focus on the character rather than the plot. All the settings in the film, including the background of the times, are for several core roles.

    The core characters in the film are all the marginalized people of the society at the time: the heroine Eliza is not only a dumb, but also an orphan, and she is helpless after her adulthood; her neighbor Gilles is a homosexual In the United States in the 1960s, it was undoubtedly a death knell for his career and social life; her good friend Zelda in the workplace was a black woman, and this group did not receive treatment in the 1960s. It is a metaphor; a doctor who assists three people, a scientist named the United States, is actually a spy sent by the Soviet Union, but his professional ethics is inconsistent with his identity as a spy. Bringing these people together is a mysterious monster that was taken to a government secret laboratory, a amphibious creature from South America. The story of the people who save the monsters in the film is essentially a marginal crowd looking for self-worth and fighting against this war song against their unfair society. The love of Eliza and the monster breaking the secular taboo can explain this in particular. And this has become the biggest highlight of the film.

    However, the limitations of this film are also derived from the positioning of "fairy tale". Although from the soundtrack to the fashion design, from the set to the camera, it perfectly restored the era and created a refined and dreamy world, but this film has always only used the problems of this era and the times as the background. It draws a series of topics related to politics and culture, but does not intend to explore them further, because these deeper content has been separated from the core of the story: love and acceptance.

    The film is a movie that looks pleasing to the eye and adds a smile to the corner of the mouth. It is just that, no more and no less.