Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Too wet to be wild
THE SHAPE OF WATER ATTACK ON TITAN: THE ROAR OF AWAKENING
This fishy tale of aquatic love has made a big splash at the Oscars – but being nominated for 13 Academy Awards is a red herring. A dark fantasy set in the early 1960s at the height of the Red Scare when many feared communism, it tells of a mute cleaner who begins an amorous affair with a captured humanoid sea beast.
She is moved to pity, then love and finally to free him.
Trouble is, this curious hybrid is neither fish nor fowl.
Imagine Free Willy being remade as a gothic fairytale with the Creature from the Black Lagoon having it away with Mrs Overall from TV parody Acorn Antiques. It’s clear from an early moment of intimacy that Brit actress Sally Hawkins is playing a very different role to the maternal Mrs Brown in the Paddington Bear films.
As cleaner Elisa she’s a romantic yet lonely soul. And her naked scenes with the rubber costumed Amphibian Man have an unfortunate Fifty Shades of kink to them.
The real monster on show is Michael Shannon’s evil head of security, who wants to see the creature sleeping with the fishes. And Soviet spies want the “asset” for their own nefarious ends.
Following the box office disappointments of Pacific Rim and Crimson Peak, Mexican writer, director and producer
Guillermo del Toro has had to scale back his previously outlandish budgets. Though the production design is typically detailed and rich, his use of locations, cast and CGI has been kept to a bare minimum.
Del Toro’s heavy handed script sees many characters unable to give voice to their true identities, and are forced to live lives of compromise without love or face repercussions. Following Hollywood’s ongoing sex scandals, this plea for tolerance, openness and inclusion is undoubtedly the reason why the film chimes so loudly with the Oscar voters.
But with the message weighing down the drama, it’s only thanks to Hawkins’ compassionate performance that this fairytale manages to hold water.
Cert 15 Running time 123 minutes Cert 15 Running time 120 minutes