The Shape of Water

I have always been a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro ever since I saw "Pan's Labyrinth." I was intrigued by the trailers for this film as well as when it was nominated for Best Picture. I finally sat down and watched it on iTunes and purchased it. WOW! I really feel that this by far is del Toro's best film. He has combined romance, fantasy, horror, sci-fi all in one package to great success and created a magical piece of film making. It is his homage to the classic monster films including "Creature from the Black Lagoon."

Actress, Sally Hawkins who plays the leading lady in the story, Elisa Esposito was outstanding in her performance and well deserved the Oscar nomination she received for her work on this film. del Toro well set up her character from the very beginning as this shy, mute, vulnerable woman who is lonely, longs for love and romance, and finds solace in her cats and her best friend and neighbor, Giles, played beautifully by actor, Richard Jenkins. Jenkins and Hawkins have great chemistry together and play a form of father/brother - sister/daughter type relationship together and they lean on one another. Society's outcasts that nobody wants to acknowledge. Giles has his solace in his art and Elisa has her solace with their friendship, her work and her other friendship with her good friend and co-worker, Zelda Fuller, played by the wonderful, Octavia Spencer, who also well deserved her Oscar nomination for this role. Octavia gives a bravo performance in this film and she plays a wonderfully charismatic, strong-willed and brave character whom I fell in love with from the start, alongside Elisa and Giles. I truly felt for all three of these characters.

Then into this merry band enters the mystical, incredible, and dynamic half-man/half-amphibian creature that Elisa discovers when called upon to clean up a secret lab at the federal facility she works at alongside Zelda. All of a sudden Elisa's life is changed forever and that is the crux and meat of the entire story.

I highly recommend this film to everyone! You will be touched, inspired as well as have an occasional laugh or two. It is rated "R" and does contain language, some graphic violence and sexual material so it isn't for the little ones, but it is a wonderful fantasy for adults! I am so glad I watched this film! My life was truly changed because of it!