The Shape of Water (2017)

My Review

The Best Picture of 2017 is…..”The Shape of Water.” This story is set in a 1962 Cold War laboratory where a mute cleaning woman falls in love with a captured amphibious creature and conspires to release him before the military people can perform experiments on him. Director Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth” 2006) did put together a film with good production values, good performances, and decent writing, as he co-wrote the screenplay with Vanessa Taylor. However, this is just downright weird subject matter and is not really wholesome entertainment.

The cast includes Sally Hawkins as the smitten custodian, Doug Jones as the amphibian man, Michael Shannon as the colonel who captured him in a South American river, Lauren Lee Smith as his wife, Nick Searcy as the Air Force general in charge of the project, Richard Jenkins as Sally’s neighbor, Octavia Spencer is her co-worker, Michael Stuhlbarg is a scientist, Nigel Bennett is a Soviet handler, and David Hewlett as the lab’s director. The unwatchable nonsense “The Shape of Water” was quite successful at the box office for Double Dare You Productions and Fox Searchlight Pictures. It was filmed in Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

It was nominated for thirteen Academy Award nominations, winning four – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Score (Alexandre Desplat), and Best Production Design. Non-winners include Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress (Hawkins), Best Supporting Actor (Jenkins), Best Supporting Actress (Spencer), Best Cinematography (Dan Laustsen), Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing.