![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Movie rec: The Shape of Water (Copper Day, 24th of Snowy, Year 226)
I went to see The Shape of Water today -- aka, Guillermo Del Toro remixes The Creature from the Black Lagoon
It is an an amazing movie -- gorgeous, with a well-constructed plot, sympathetic characters, twists you can see coming and ones you can't. It's definitely an exploration of being on the outside or fringes of a culture you're nominally a part of, and what kind of decisions you have to make in that kind of role.
The moment where one of the character says that decency is only an export product for America -- we don't use it ourselves, so we sell it to other countries -- was sharp and hurtful, because it was so accurate.
Del Toro totally deserves that Golden Globe for this movie. It's not quite my favorite of his movies, but since I'm never going to watch Pan's Labyrinth (amazing! gorgeous! so brutal that twice in theaters was enough for me! but I recommend seeing it once!) I can happily place it in the top three.
Also, another entry into Canadian Actor Bingo -- David Hewlett was kind of a surprise. Imagine Rodney McKay as a insecure security chief during the Cold War; he was definitely using some of the same mannerisms for this movie. I also spotted Nigel Bennett and Jon Kapelos. This is not too surprising, because it was filmed in and around Toronto, even though it's set in Baltimore.
There is a brief scene of animal harm (the fishman mistakes a cat for food), some sexual creepiness (the villain creeps on the heroine, in a fairly terrifying scene), and a good bit of violence and gore, so be warned if any of these things are triggers.
It is an an amazing movie -- gorgeous, with a well-constructed plot, sympathetic characters, twists you can see coming and ones you can't. It's definitely an exploration of being on the outside or fringes of a culture you're nominally a part of, and what kind of decisions you have to make in that kind of role.
The moment where one of the character says that decency is only an export product for America -- we don't use it ourselves, so we sell it to other countries -- was sharp and hurtful, because it was so accurate.
Del Toro totally deserves that Golden Globe for this movie. It's not quite my favorite of his movies, but since I'm never going to watch Pan's Labyrinth (amazing! gorgeous! so brutal that twice in theaters was enough for me! but I recommend seeing it once!) I can happily place it in the top three.
Also, another entry into Canadian Actor Bingo -- David Hewlett was kind of a surprise. Imagine Rodney McKay as a insecure security chief during the Cold War; he was definitely using some of the same mannerisms for this movie. I also spotted Nigel Bennett and Jon Kapelos. This is not too surprising, because it was filmed in and around Toronto, even though it's set in Baltimore.
There is a brief scene of animal harm (the fishman mistakes a cat for food), some sexual creepiness (the villain creeps on the heroine, in a fairly terrifying scene), and a good bit of violence and gore, so be warned if any of these things are triggers.