Guillermo del Toro Brings Us a Creature-Feature Love Story

Doug Jones and Sally Hawkins in "The Shape of Water"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

While there are many directors working these days that have exemplified movie magic, one such person who comes to mind right away in that respect is Guillermo del Toro.  He’s a filmmaker who revels in both the beautiful and the frightening, getting himself and us so caught up in the worlds that he brings to the screen and letting us sense his deep love for the medium.  Whether it be one of his best accomplishments, such as “Pan's Labyrinth” and “The Devil's Backbone,” or one of his somewhat lesser films, such as “Crimson Peak” and “Pacific Rim,” you can always find something special in a del Toro film.

His latest achievement is the fantasy-drama, “The Shape of Water.”  As usual, he soars in melding the ordinary with the extraordinary and crafting something that’s bold, exciting, and wondrous.

During the Cold War, a mute janitor, Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins), cleans the facilities of a secret laboratory.  One day, a humanoid, amphibious creature (Doug Jones) is brought from South America to the lab in a water tank, and Elisa establishes a connection with it.  When the creature’s in danger of being killed for research purposes, Elisa formulates a plan to help her new friend escape.

Sally Hawkins, in a nonverbal performance, is able to exemplify the love that her character has for the creature by relying on facial expressions and sign language.  Through all of this, we’re able to access her innermost thoughts and feelings, making us able to decipher a great deal of her loneliness, longing for companionship, and love she wants to give.

Doug Jones, a long-time collaborator with del Toro, once again becomes one with a fantastical role.  Having portrayed a number of nonhuman characters in del Toro’s film, such as Abe Sapien in the two “Hellboy” movies and The Faun and The Pale Man in “Pan’s Labyrinth,” Jones has shown himself to be a perfect channel for bringing the director’s stunning creations to life.  He becomes so in tune with his costumes and makeup that it’s almost as if he becomes possessed by his characters, which results in him delivering one memorable performance after another.

As for the supporting cast, it offers terrific work from Octavia Spencer as Elisa’s friend and co-worker, Richard Jenkins as Elisa’s kindhearted neighbor, Michael Shannon as a heartless colonel, and Michael Stuhlbarg as a scientist who holds a few secrets.

The screenplay by del Toro and Vanessa Taylor has a couple of obvious similarities to “Pan’s Labyrinth” and may seem like your typical misunderstood-human-befriends-a-mysterious-creature narrative, but the story is told with such passion, that you don’t mind that it shares some likenesses to a couple of other movies.  It has its own deeper ideas that it’s trying to convey, so even if the movie follows this familiar blueprint, the film goes in its own engaging direction. 

While the story remains committed to building the relationship between Elisa and the creature, it also dedicates a sufficient amount of time to many its supporting characters, with Jenkins, Shannon, and Stuhlbarg’s roles given detailed arcs.  But, in Spencer’s case, although she has some good scenes, her arc could have been a little more fleshed out.

The narrative also uses the creature as a catalyst for a broader narrative about the mistreatment of marginalized people, like African-Americans, gays, and the disabled.  These groups and the creature all share the same encounter with hostility from others, and del Toro and Taylor construct a powerful look at how these characters who are seen as different come together to help someone who’s experiencing the same lack of acceptance as them.

del Toro’s use of a clockwork/time motif throughout the film is used with great effect.  It’s first used to emphasize the daily, mundane routine of Elisa’s life.  Later on, however, it’s used to increase the tension of the situation as Elisa and her friends enact their plan to free the creature.  With the help of Sidney Wolinsky’s precise editing, del Toro shows his talent for timing his shots so that each one is in the right place and has the right length.  He makes sure that everything comes together and there isn’t a wasted or unnecessary shot.

“The Shape of Water” feels like a story that you would find in a fairytale book, as they both have a sense of enchantment that builds from frame to frame and page to page.  With this film, del Toro shows that you’re never too old for a fable that teaches you about life and how to be human.

Final grade: A-