An other-worldly story, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962, where a mute janitor working at a lab falls in love with an amphibious man being held captive there and devises a plan to help him escape.
Credits: TheMovieDb.
Film Cast:
- Elisa Esposito: Sally Hawkins
- The Asset: Doug Jones
- Richard Strickland: Michael Shannon
- Giles: Richard Jenkins
- Zelda Fuller: Octavia Spencer
- Dr. Robert Hoffstetler: Michael Stuhlbarg
- Fleming: David Hewlett
- General Hoyt: Nick Searcy
- Bernard: Stewart Arnott
- Mihalkov: Nigel Bennett
- Elaine Strickland: Lauren Lee Smith
- Brewster Fuller: Martin Roach
- Yolanda: Allegra Fulton
- Mr. Arzounian: John Kapelos
- Pie Guy: Morgan Kelly
- Sally: Wendy Lyon
- Tammy Strickland: Madison Ferguson
- Timmy Strickland: Jayden Greig
- Lou: Deney Forrest
- Duane: Brandon McKnight
- Military Policeman: Dru Viergever
- Burly Russian: Marvin Kaye
- 1960’s Ad Man: Jim Pagiamtzis
- Car Passenger: Cameron Laurie
- Soviet violinist: Alexey Pankratov
- Military Police: Shane Clinton Jarvis
- Restaurant Musician: Evgeny Akimov
- Scientist: Dave Reachill
- Military Police: Matthew Mease
- Mrs. Peabody: Amanda Smith
- Bus Passenger: Maxine Grossman
- Amphibian Man Dance Double: Edward Tracz
- Elisa Dance Double: Shaila D’Onofrio
- Russian Band: Vanessa Oude-Reimerink
- Russian Band: Sergey Nikonov
- Bus Passenger #1: Jonelle Gunderson
- Wet Cinema Patron: Clyde Whitham
- Cadillac Salesman: Dan Lett
- African American Husband: Danny Waugh
- African American Wife: Karen Glave
- Worker: Diego Fuentes
- Guard: Cody Ray Thompson
Film Crew:
- Music: Alexandre Desplat
- Choreographer: Roberto Campanella
- Assistant Director: Pierre Henry
- Story: Guillermo del Toro
- Editor: Sidney Wolinsky
- Casting: Robin D. Cook
- Production Design: Paul D. Austerberry
- Orchestrator: Jean-Pascal Beintus
- Director of Photography: Dan Laustsen
- Producer: J. Miles Dale
- Costume Design: Luis Sequeira
- Set Decoration: Shane Vieau
- Music Editor: Dustin Harris
- Stunt Coordinator: Jean Frenette
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Christian T. Cooke
- Screenplay: Vanessa Taylor
- Makeup Department Head: Jordan Samuel
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Dennis Berardi
- Assistant Art Director: Evan Webber
- Camera Operator: Gilles Corbeil
- Foley: Steve Baine
- Set Decoration: Jeffrey A. Melvin
- Art Direction: Nigel Churcher
- Unit Publicist: Lisa Shamata
- Dialogue Editor: Jill Purdy
- Script Supervisor: Dug Rotstein
- Assistant Art Director: David Best
- Sound Effects Editor: Alex Bullick
- Music Editor: Rob Hegedus
- Assistant Art Director: David G. Fremlin
- Supervising Sound Editor: Nathan Robitaille
- Visual Effects Editor: Brandon Schaafsma
- Construction Coordinator: Marc Kuitenbrouwer
- Special Effects Coordinator: Warren Appleby
- Underwater Camera: Brent Robinson
- Other: Greg Sigurdson
- Additional Still Photographer: Sophie Giraud
- Gaffer: Tom Starnes
- Sound Effects Editor: Kevin Howard
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Brad Zoern
- Makeup Artist: Kristin Wayne
- Sound Effects Editor: Tyler Whitham
- Sound Editor: Nelson Ferreira
- Orchestrator: Nicolas Charron
- Orchestrator: Sylvain Morizet
- Sound Recordist: John Soukup
- Sound Mixer: Glen Gauthier
- Casting Associate: Jonathan Oliveira
- Animation: Peter Dydo
- Hair Designer: Paula Fleet
- Title Designer: Cam McLauchlin
- Rigging Gaffer: Jason Dodds
- Key Makeup Artist: Patricia Keighran
- Executive Producer: Liz Sayre
- Conceptual Design: Guy Davis
- Assistant Art Director: Samantha Dick
- Conceptual Design: Luca Nemolato
- Set Dresser: Jeff Poulis
- Sculptor: Mike Hill
- First Assistant Camera: John B. Harper
- Other: Jeff Vitkuske
- Assistant Editor: Mary Juric
- Researcher: Danny Haeberlin
- Boom Operator: Steve Switzer
- Sound Effects Editor: Dashen Naidoo
- Digital Effects Supervisor: Trey Harrell
- Visual Effects Producer: Luke Groves
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Ryan MacDuff
- Key Grip: Robert Johnson
- Animation Director: Kevin Scott
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Jae Won D. Lee
- Hairstylist: Lukas Press
- Key Hair Stylist: Rossana Vendramini
- Animal Wrangler: Jordan Worrell
- Drone Operator: Chris Bacik
- Casting Assistant: Catherine Gilchrist
- Casting Associate: Ashley Gray
- Assistant Costume Designer: Ann Steel
- Seamstress: Lisa Pagliaro
- Digital Intermediate: Sarah Riley
- Animation: Carlos Arancibia
- Animation: Hayley Fromstein
- Animation: Nate Thomas
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Kirsten Bligh
- Visual Effects Coordinator: John Markle
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Anastasia Starova
- Sound Mixer: Paul Gosse
- Orchestrator: Clifford J. Tasner
- Transportation Coordinator: Bruce McLean
- Digital Compositor: Jeremy Johnson
Movie Reviews:
- Gimly: Not just a love letter to the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but to cinema itself. Del Toro’s _The Shape of Water_ is the “Who is the real monster?” question taken to the nth degree, with some some fascinating side-concepts that are explored just enough to be worthwhile. At the end of the day _The Shape of Water_, at its most stripped back, is a movie about fucking a fish. But it’s the kind of movie about fucking a fish that should also probably win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
_Final rating:★★★½ – I really liked it. Would strongly recommend you give it your time._
- tmdb47633491: GDT’s first truly great flick. The R-Rated Family Movie schtick always came off as silly or had a story too dull to carry its own weight. Characters and morality are two dimensional; the world functions via cartoon logic. But the love story here is precious. Could be argued it’s an apologist film for zoophilia, considering the amphibian shows little intelligence beyond that of a dog.
- John Chard: Bend me, shape me, anyway you want me!
Guillermo del Toro directs and co-writes with Vanessa Taylor what would turn out to be the Best Picture Academy Award Winner for 2017. A much loved film that’s not without dissention in certain quarters, it’s a picture that warrants dissention but it should be noted that just because someone doesn’t like it, that doesn’t make it a bad film. I’m certainly in the camp that finds it over praised, even annoyingly disappointing, whilst appreciating many of the facets within its production.
Story in simple terms is a Beauty and the Beast like fable where Sally Hawkins’ mute cleaning lady Elisa Esposito falls in love with a captured Amphibian Man. Amphibian Man is known by the government types as The Asset, and as the Cold War rises and 60s paranoia takes a hold, the American big wigs want to vivisect the special species to learn from it. Elisa, after courting “The Asset”, enlists the help of close friends and plots to free the creature from its captivity in the underground medical bunker labyrinth place.
Now as simple as that sounds, there is more to it than that, del Toro and Taylor whilst enveloping the pic in a fantasy realm feel, ensure messages are thrust hard at the viewers. Be it the racial disharmony, the quest for different walks of life finding love with each other, the cry for humans to stop being bad and killing things because they don’t understand them, torture is evil and etc etc. It’s all right there in your face and we get it. So plot maybe simple but for sure there’s a lot being said in the narrative.
Yet as great as it looks, and it’s superbly acted by Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer, it just to me loses its way come the mid-point, getting daft and even getting a little icky into the bargain. I have no problem with improbabilities and outrageous contrivances here, this is del Toro painting one of his fantastical worlds – only on Earth in the early 60s! But the pay off is poor, hinging on a twist that’s not only ridiculous, but insulting as well because otherwise the pic would be very troubling indeed. No art deco eye orgasms or vibrant characterisations can compensate for a film that runs out of steam.
That said, I was glad to have watched it, there’s even a possibility I could return to it in the future – this is very good film making. But it’s not a great film by any stretch of the imagination and not for the first time in the Academy’s long history, many are baffled by their choice of Best Picture winner. 6/10