Swept away by a tide of emotions
tHe SHApe OF WAteR (Cert 15; 123mins)
THE Shape Of Water may be set at the height of the Cold War in 1962 but it feels like a tale as old as time. The latest gothic fantasy from Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro is a beguiling Beauty And The Beast story blending tender romance, fairytale make-believe and cold-hearted cruelty. The storytelling is so superb and the performances so heartfelt that you are swept along on waves of awe and wonder.
The film has received 13 well-deserved Oscar nominations, including Best Actress for Sally Hawkins who plays Elisa.
She is a mute who only communicates in sign language. Elisa is a meek, downtrodden cleaner in a high-security government facility where her discretion is vital. She is expected to do her job unquestioningly. The shadowy interiors and the sinister figures around her reflect a time when everyone is on edge and anything out of the ordinary is regarded with hostility. Paranoia is rampant and mostly with good cause.
The scientists are studying a creature (played by Doug Jones) captured in South America. It is amphibious and looks like a relative of the beast at the centre of 1950s B-movie Creature From The Black Lagoon. It has gills, spines and razor-sharp teeth but it also seems intelligent and vulnerable. Elisa takes a shine to the creature.
The success of The Shape Of Water lies in the way it also makes us fall for the creature. It is a darker, more adult version of E.T. with Jones’s expressive performance suggesting that the creature is almost human and blessed with real emotions. As you watch the film, you become totally involved in the relationship between Elisa and the creature.
The Shape Of Water is superbly acted throughout from Octavia Spencer as Elisa’s supportive workmate Zelda to Richard Jenkins as her close friend and ally Giles, an illustrator and incurable romantic addicted to the innocent pleasure of old black-and-white movies starring Alice Faye and Betty Grable.
Michael Shannon plays Strickland, the villain of the piece and a man whose methods and convictions make your blood run cold. He has no doubt that the creature must be tamed and subjected to experiments even if they result in its bloody death.
The more the creature is beaten and chained, the more Elisa becomes invested in his fate and ready to break all the rules.
Sally Hawkins carries the film. Elisa may not speak but you are never in doubt about what she is feeling as Hawkins makes her shine with an inner resolve.
She is practical, decent and loyal, and her generous heart means she cannot stand by and watch the suffering of another being. You will cheer her on as she takes a stand for love in a world that seems determined to surrender to fear and suspicion.
FAtHeR FIGUReS (Cert 15; 113mins)
YOU have to feel sorry for the actors dragged into Father Figures. Are there really so few jobs around that they have to resort to this?
A talented cast mostly sink with the ship in a so-called comedy that is desperately dull