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MOVIES BY DOUGLAS TSENG

The Shape

of Water (M18)

STARRING Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Doug Jones, Richard Jenkins DIRECTED BY Guillermo del Toro

Mexican visionary Guillermo del
Toro’s Cold War-era creature feature
is a bizarre love story between a mute
janitor at a classified research facility
(Sally Hawkins, amazing beyond words)
and a mysterious sea ogre in captivity
(del Toro regular Doug Jones in a scaly
suit that looks like a distant cousin of
Abraham Sapien from Hellboy). But this
interspecies romance is threatened by
another monster: a brutal G-man (Mi-
chael Shannon, unnervingly brilliant) who
loves candies as much as he loves tortur-
ing his prisoner with a cattle prod.
Like del Toro’s 2006 masterpiece,
Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, is
a hypnotic, haunting, and visually dense
(almost everything coated in green) fairy
tale for grown-ups. It owes its DNA to
King Kong, Beauty and the Beast, and
Creature from the Black Lagoon, a key
influence in the director’s childhood; and
has violence, colourful language, and
ahem, sexy stuff, including a few scenes
involving an egg-timer.
So if you’re new to del Toro, the juxta-
position between these edgy elements
and the wondrous childlike aura can
be a bit unsettling. For fans, however,
The Shape of Water, isn’t something
unexpected from him: He has an eternal
obsession with monsters. Think of the
movie, up for 13 Oscars (including Best
Picture) next month, as his ‘greatest
hits’ album: a collection of old hits —
some remastered, some re-record-
ed — plus a few new tunes (like
a surreal Busby Berkeley dance
musical number!).
And it rocks.

36 8 DAYS