![]() While Elisa smuggles jazz records and hard-boiled eggs for her bestial new beau, the Cold War still rages. ![]() ![]() “The Shape of Water” never develops on one single front. Mute and orphaned since birth, Elisa knows what its like to be overlooked, misunderstood, and unable speak out. Hawkins’ Elisa, who works the overnight shift cleaning a top security government base, looks at the sea creature being kept there and sees a kindred spirit. Set in ever-rainy Baltimore of 1962, the film is one part love story, one part Cold War thriller and one part exploration of American culture – and that’s before we even mention the monster. ![]() At one unexpected moment in Guillermo del Toro’s virtuosic new film, the characters break into a song. The lights dim, the colors drain to black and white and Sally Hawkins’ otherwise mute Elisa takes Doug Jones’ unnamed creature by the hand, and the two begin hoofing old Hollywood style in a “Top Hat” reminiscent musical number set to the old standard “You’ll Never Know (Just How Much I Love You).” It’s just one more magical moment in a film full of them, another reminder that not only is “ The Shape of Water” one of del Toro’s most stunningly successful works, it’s also a powerful vision of a creative master feeling totally, joyously free. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |