Shape of Water

I have to say, I went into this film with no expectations. When I finished it I was amazed that I liked it more than I thought. You may have read some of the reviews about how unbelievable this story is and so forth. I usually don’t agree with most of the reviews, so I got the movie from Netflix and decided to give it a change, it did win the Academy Award for best picture, so it should be good…right?

First off I usually like movies that have Octavia Spencer, ever since her role in “The Help”, so when I saw her appear I was hoping that I her performance would be just as good. And yes she did deliver. Another actor that I usually like is Michael Shannon, he always plays those odd characters and again he did so here. Richard Jenkins did a great job and I did like him in the series “Six Feet Under”. Sally Hawkins, the main character, I have never heard before and she gave a great performance as the mute leading lady.

The cinematography is what really brought you into the movie. Guillermo del Toro is one of those directors that really focuses on the cinematography and uses that to get you engulfed in the film. There were many scenes that was like “wow that is beautiful” and the details of the creature was amazing.

The premise of the movie is about a mute woman, that was raised in an orphanage since she was found by water. She has scars on both sides of her neck, which was thought was the cause of her muteness. She befriends her lonely neighbor and make sure that he is taken care of. She works the night shift at a research facility as a cleaning lady where she first meets the creature.

The movie touches on social norms of the 1960’s, such as racial discrimination and sexual norms. Makes you reflect on how much it was impacted back then, and yet it is still apparent today. It touches on the social norms of a person that feels like an outsider through the main characters, the mute heroine and the creature.

Overall, I thought that it was a very well done movie. It kept made you feel like you were in the 1960’s. The acting was very good and I thought the story was well thought through.

***SPOILERS***

This is what I thought of the main character. I believe that Elisa Esposito was a mermaid herself. She is unable to speak, kind of like when Ariel left the ocean she did not have the ability to speak. Unlike Ariel, Elisa lost her memory of being in the ocean, so she grew up not knowing about her past. But in the beginning, I believe we were experiencing Elisa’s dream of being underwater. When she approaches the creature’s holding tank he approaches her without hesitation, because he can sense something different about her and that is when their relationship progresses. In the end, those three scars in both sides of her neck open up as gills. This is when I truly believe that she was once a mermaid, and now she has found her true love and her origin.