06. The Shape of Water (Dir. Guillermo Del Toro, 2017) Film Review
I finally made the time to watch the scaly phenomenon that has been doing swimmingly this Oscar season.
Straight off the bat this film is so wonderfully designed with such a lovely colour palette. Of course, revolving a film around a Mermaid/God/Amphibian man would call for variations of blue and green colouring throughout, but I just found the colours so wonderfully whimsical and beautiful that I thought it was worth a mention.
Straight off the bat this film is so wonderfully designed with such a lovely colour palette. Of course, revolving a film around a Mermaid/God/Amphibian man would call for variations of blue and green colouring throughout, but I just found the colours so wonderfully whimsical and beautiful that I thought it was worth a mention.
The sound track is absolutely enchanting also, and I loved the fact that even though Eliza (Sally Hawkins) is mute, she adores listening to and dancing to music. Music is a universal medium, and therefore having the bonds between characters developed through their sharing of music is rather symbolic of how music can unite people, and even creatures, of all different backgrounds.
Speaking of Sally Hawkins, her performance is brilliant, not only being convincing as a person living mute, but also in how endearing, and also strong, she comes across as.
Michael Shannon, who portrays the cruel and vicious Strickland, also has an astounding performance in this feature, drifting terrifyingly between calm and calculated to rash and abusive.
Now, moving onto a major part of the film that I found a bit strange and didn't particularly think was necessary.
I understand that the film was presenting issues revolving around discrimination and issues that minorities have experienced and still experience today, and I agreed with all of the messages it put across. I also thought that the beginning of the relationship between Eliza and the Amphibian man was really cute, as it was believable that she could form a bond with him, as he was an emotionally aware creature. However, he isn't human, and I don't really think that their friendship needed progressing into a sexual relationship whatsoever, and it kind of ruined it for me.
See, there's a very big difference between being able to form relationships with another species and actively being in a sexual and romantic relationship with another species. We don't condone or support people who engage with other animals this way, it's illegal, so how come it's presented as acceptable for Eliza to have sex with an amphibian creature?
It's just a bit weird and no one, even in the film, really seems to focus on that. The film could have presented the issues it wanted to in so many different ways.
I would definitely recommend seeing The Shape of Water though, as it is a wonderful film and does explore some very important issues.
Paige Nicole
Speaking of Sally Hawkins, her performance is brilliant, not only being convincing as a person living mute, but also in how endearing, and also strong, she comes across as.
Michael Shannon, who portrays the cruel and vicious Strickland, also has an astounding performance in this feature, drifting terrifyingly between calm and calculated to rash and abusive.
I understand that the film was presenting issues revolving around discrimination and issues that minorities have experienced and still experience today, and I agreed with all of the messages it put across. I also thought that the beginning of the relationship between Eliza and the Amphibian man was really cute, as it was believable that she could form a bond with him, as he was an emotionally aware creature. However, he isn't human, and I don't really think that their friendship needed progressing into a sexual relationship whatsoever, and it kind of ruined it for me.
See, there's a very big difference between being able to form relationships with another species and actively being in a sexual and romantic relationship with another species. We don't condone or support people who engage with other animals this way, it's illegal, so how come it's presented as acceptable for Eliza to have sex with an amphibian creature?
It's just a bit weird and no one, even in the film, really seems to focus on that. The film could have presented the issues it wanted to in so many different ways.
I would definitely recommend seeing The Shape of Water though, as it is a wonderful film and does explore some very important issues.
Paige Nicole
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