The Shape of Water

"Tragedy and delight, hand in hand."

I love a good creature movie - especially the nontraditional ones that only a genre master like Guillermo del Toro can deliver. From films like Pan's Labyrinth to Hellboy to The Devil's Backbone, del Toro regularly explores the nature of monsters as living, feeling creatures and not simply the embodiment of fear and hatred that they are routinely cast as. With The Shape of Water, del Toro is given his fullest opportunity to plumb the depths of humanity and our quirky relationships with love and fear and how our need for one can allow us to slip into the darkness of the other. Less a monster movie and more of a fairytale romance, the film may not quite be del Toro's masterpiece, but it is a grand achievement giving audiences a heartfelt cinematic journey - if you can align yourself with the film's numerous eccentricities. 

Elisa (Sally Hawkins) lives a quiet unassuming life of routine. Wake up, make some eggs, tend to her needs, make her painter neighbor Giles (Richard Jenkins) something to eat, go to work at a government research facility and listen to her exuberant co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) talk about her husband while complaining about the pee stains in the men's bathroom. Mute and able to communicate through sign language, Elisa may be of few words but lives a life of rich emotion and a longing for love - just like every other human around her. When she and Zelda are assigned to clean a top-secret research room housing a rare Amphibian Man (Doug Jones) captured in the Amazon, Elisa makes the unlikeliest of human connections with a creature that is decidedly not human. Her growing sense of joy and love is threatened by the barbarous actions of the facility's security head Strickland (Michael Shannon). With the help of a quiet and inquisitive scientist called Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg), Elisa concocts a scheme to bring her friends together to save the Amphibian Man from an unfortunate fate. 

I'm grateful that I was able to see The Shape of Water in theaters long before its Award Season run. When a film gets tossed into that pile of "Best Picture" contenders it gets saddled with the extra weight and perception of "being the best of the best." When an audience goes into any film with heightened expectations, it makes it even more difficult for the film to earn the careful and due consideration it is entitled to. Was The Shape of Water actually better than Three Billboards, Lady Bird, Dunkirk, Get Out, Call Me By Your Name, or Darkest Hour? Making those hardline distinctions of "best" or "better than" casts a film in a different light that I don't like to view it under. For myself, I rarely can pin down a "best film of the year," but I do enjoy numerous favorites. The Shape of Water absolutely was one of my favorite films of 2017 and was fully deserving of the acclaim and recognition it earned.

I loved that this film, at its core, is a deconstruction of the classic monster movie mythos where the creature in question would often be a being of fear and murderous intent. I've never been fully able to align my thinking that way as there is a great amount of empathy to be given the creature. As this film pulls a lot of obvious inspiration from The Creature From The Black Lagoon and more specifically its sequel Revenge of the Creature, we're given a being that, by all constipated terminology, would be classified as a monster, but it's also given a true heart in the form of Sally Hawkins' Elisa. Both are beings out of place and time with the world around them making their connection unexpected but welcome and relatable. While Elisa does have friends who care about her, she doesn't experience true love and respect until the Amphibian Man rises out of the water and the pair shares a hard boiled egg together. It's pretty wild to see where del Toro decided to take the material considering the marketplace and the undoubted pressure to make the film a more marketable PG-13. While there is a lovable sense of whimsy to the film the characters' respective journies - it is decidedly not a kid-friendly feature, and all the better for it. 

I would be remiss to discuss The Shape of Water in too much detail as there are a number of plot points and important themes at play I would rather not color anyone's expectations further. Michael Shannon's Strickland is a particularly tough character to discuss without A: spoiling key events and B: coloring the film with any personal biases. The film has already been saddled with the weight of being "Best Picture of the Year," the film doesn't need my takeaways to burden it further. I want people to be able to glean their own intersections without me drawing the roadmap. Suffice to say I liked where it went with the material. I liked how each character arguably is in the search for love and connection. They each have their own ways of trying to make these connections and they all succeed and fail in their own ways. 

Would I call The Shape of Water Guillermo del Toro's crowning achievement? No, probably not. Similarly to how Scorsese nabbed his Best Director Oscar for The Departed, I would say that it is a deserving win for del Toro, but not necessarily for his best film. I often find myself split between The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth for that honor. Still, it's an accolade that has been a long time coming for the man who celebrates monsters and the beauty they bring cinema. With Doug Jones delivering yet another terrific unrecognizable creature performance alongside an impressive leading turn from Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water is a terrific achievement for a director and storyteller far from finished saying everything he has to say on movie screens. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray

The Shape of Water arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox in a two-disc Blu-ray + DVD + Digital set. Pressed onto a Region A BD-50 disc, the discs are housed in an eco-friendly two-disc case with identical slipcover artwork. The disc loads to trailers for other Fox Searchlight releases before arriving at an animated main menu with traditional navigation options. The Digital copy of the film can be redeemed through Movies Anywhere. 

The Shape of Water debuts on Blu-ray with a vivid and intricate digitally sourced 1.85:1 1080p transfer. As a film that takes place in a fantastical version of the 1960s, there is a tremendous amount of rich detail to mine in every scene. From Elisa and Giles' weathered apartments above the movie theater to the Rockwell-styled town, to the dreary and ominous security facility that houses the Amphibian Man, there is a lot to see and take in. Colors shift depending on the location favoring bold primaries to drab and washed out gray and deep greens. Golds and yellows also get their day in the sun giving the image a notable colorful texture. Black levels are deep and inky with well-balanced contrasts to give the image a notable sense of depth and dimension. The swimming scene in Elisa's apartment is a standout moment. If there is a slight misgiving I have to mention is some very mild noise in a couple of dark sequences, but it's so slight it's barely worth mentioning. All in all, this is a terrific looking Blu-ray image and fans of the film should be very pleased with the results.

The Shape of Water arrives with a strong DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track. While I admittedly would have loved something of a more atmospherically rich experience provided by a DTS:X or Atmos mix, this 5.1 track is no slouch where it counts most.

From the opening dream scene with Alexandre Desplat's whimsical score to the screeching hisses of the Amphibian Man to the rain-drenched finale, this track holds its own. I particularly enjoyed the subtleties of the mix as there is almost constant surround activity, but from sources that don't draw attention to themselves. The film establishes early on that Elisa lives above a movie theater so throughout there are the muffled sounds emanating from her floor. You hear them, know what they are and why they're there, but don't call attention to themselves. Similarly, when Elisa and Spencer's Zelda are cleaning the various rooms of the research facility, the hustle and bustle around them sound organic in a way that sets the scene of how the people around them don't care about these two women. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout without any issues. Levels are spot on allowing you to set things at a comfortable level and sit back and enjoy the flick. As it stands, this is a splendid audio mix that serves the nature of the film perfectly 

Without one of del Toro's signature excellent audio commentaries, I was a bit worried about what this bonus feature package. Thankfully, Fox went all out in every other department. While I still would have loved for del Toro to have recorded a commentary, I understand his reasonings after seeing this assortment of detailed and encompassing extras. If I have a true criticism of this bonus feature package is that I would have liked more. There already is a lot here, but I can bet there is hours worth of additional bonus production footage out there waiting for some new Special Edition or possibly even a Criterion Collection offering.

A Fairytale for Troubled Times (HD 28:55) While there are segments of this multi-part feature that stretch the trail of a traditional EPK talking-head piece, there is a lot of story territory where they get to dig into some depth behind the inspiration for the film. I really enjoyed the creature craft segment as they did an incredible amount of practical effects to bring Doug Jones' Amphibian Man to life. NOTE: These bonus features are very spoiler-heavy so don't watch until you've seen the film. 

Anatomy of a Scene: Prologue (HD 3: 14) This is a short but a great look at the creation of the dream-like introduction that sets up key elements and scenes for the rest of the film. 

Anatomy of a Scene: The Dance (HD 4:50) This is a pretty cool behind the scenes look at the creation of the dream sequence.

Shaping the Waves: A Conversation with James Jean (HD 5:05) This is a brief but very cool look at the artist's work and his work on the film creating the poster and other pieces. 

Guillermo del Toro's Master Class (HD 13:27) This is a very cool Q and A, but I honestly wish it was longer as the audience questions aren't really explored. Still very informative and well worth watching. 

Trailers (HD 6:55) Includes the Theatrical Trailer as well as both Red Band Trailers.

While even under the best of circumstances it would be difficult for me to hail any film as the definitive "Best Picture of the Year," The Shape of Water certainly was one of my favorites. As a lover of classic monster films, I appreciated Guillermo del Toro's whimsical and heartfelt spin into the tricky realms of human connection and attraction. While I'm sure it's not a film for everyone, it's one I hope most folks give a chance.

20th Century Fox brings The Shape of Water to Blu-ray in fine order. Sporting a great A/V presentation and a decent assortment of bonus features, fans of the film will be happy with this package while newcomers should find plenty to admire and even love about this film. Highly Recommended.