THE SHAPE OF WATER : Tuesday 13th February 2018.

'THE SHAPE OF WATER' which I finally caught earlier this week, has had much written about it already, has been hailed as one of the years best films by many Critics, has garnered a truck load of award wins and nominations, and has taken US$75M at the Box Office from its rather modest budget of just US$20M. The film Premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in late August where it was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Film in competition, and it screened too at TIFF in September before opening in the US in early December. Praised universally for its strong performances, production design, storyline, Direction and musical score, the film was Co-Written for the screen by Guillermo del Toro based on his own idea for the story, Co-Produced and Directed by him too. So far 'The Shape of Water' has picked up 84 award wins and 251 nominations, including thirteen yet to be announced Academy Awards, twelve also yet to be announced BAFTA Awards, as well as winning two Golden Globes and being nominated for five others; two SAG Awards nominations; three International AACTA Award nods; two Satellite Award wins and another eight nominations. Not a bad tally at all!

The film opens with Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) waking up, bathing, fixing herself a packed lunch, polishing her shoes and catching a bus to work from her apartment above a movie theatre. She clocks on at midnight in the secret Government laboratory somewhere in Baltimore during the Cold War era of the early 1960's where Elisa works as a cleaner. Elisa we learn early on is mute, unable to speak but able to hear perfectly. She communicates using sign language. She has three parallel scars on either side of her neck, which she has had since childhood - possibly the cause of her being mute, but the reasons for the scars is a mystery. She seems to have only two friends in the world - her neighbour Giles (Richard Jenkins) - a gay advertisement illustrator who was let go by his former employer for reasons that are unknown but he still gets contract work from his connections there. And then there is Zelda Fuller (Octavia Spencer) - a co-worker and partner in mop and broom pushing, who looks out for Eliza and acts as her interpreter in the workplace.

While going about the cleaning rounds, the facility takes receipt of a top secret casket in which is contained some kind of creature immersed in water. Elisa glimpses it momentarily before the casket is removed, and she is asked to leave the room. Later, a mystery figure appears and introduces himself as Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon) to the pair of cleaners while they are cleaning the gents toilet. He takes a nonchalant leak while the pair chat to him, and as he leaves he takes his cattle prod with him which he left on the sink, dripping blood, while he relieved himself. He thanks the ladies for their time, the conversation and bids them farewell. It turns out that Strickland captured the creature from some South American river and spent months in bringing it back to Baltimore for scientific analysis. Soon afterwards alarm bells start ringing and Strickland is seen emerging from the room bleeding badly clutching his hand. Senior officials order the cleaners into the room and give them twenty minutes to mop up all the blood on the floor. While doing so Elisa retrieves two severed fingers (Strickland's) and drops them into a spent brown paper bag containing the remnants of her lunchtime sandwich.

Letting curiosity get the better of her, Elisa investigates the mysterious creature further, gaining access to the room where it is being held, under the auspices of her cleaning routines. She discovers that the creature is a humanoid amphibian (Doug Jones) half man half lizard type and over time she and it grow close. She brings it eggs to eat which he likes, plays music which he appreciates, and attempts to communicate using her sign language which the creature quickly learns to imitate.

Enter General Frank Hoyt (Nick Searcy) who orders Strickland to vivisect the creature and learn from it what he can. Strickland has a dislike for the creature and taunts it with his cattle prod for pleasure - enjoying it's reaction to the pain and watching it bleed. Standing by and keeping a watchful eye on these events as they unfold is Dr. Robert Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg) one of the Scientists within the facility. He is secretly a Russian spy, and he urges Strickland not to operate on the creature as there is so much to be learned by keeping it alive. However, concurrently, Hoffstetler is ordered by his Russian superiors to euthanise the creature.

Elisa overhears Strickland's orders to dispense with the creature and convinces Giles to help her free it. At first he refuses, but comes around to her way of thinking when he sees just how much the creature means to her. Hoffstetler meanwhile, learns of Elisa's plan to free the creature, and offers his help. Zelda too joins the escape plan. Ultimately their plan is successful, but only just, with Giles driving off the premises in a laundry van with Eliza and the creature huddled in the back as it is riddled by bullets as Strickland gives chase. He has however, no idea who the perpetrators of the cunning escape plan are, believing it to be the work of a gang of well organised men, probably pesky Ruskies!

Back at her apartment, Elisa keeps the creature in her bathtub and uses some form of water treatment compound supplied by Hoffstetler that needs to be changed every three days, plus a good dose of salt. She plans to release the creature into the nearby canal which flows through to the sea when the rains come and the water level rises. This is a few days from now. She marks the date of her planned release on a wall calendar. Meanwhile, Strickland interviews Elisa and Zelda but they claim to know nothing and sit across the table from him in all innocence. Elisa's mute status proving a real advantage here.

Back at the apartment Giles is maintaining a watchful eye on the creature, but dozes off to sleep. He awakes to find the creature eating one of his cats, and startled the creature makes a bolt for the door, and in so doing slashes Giles arm, resulting in profuse bleeding. Giles alerts Elisa and she quickly discovers the creature in the cinema below where she lives, and escorts him back to the apartment. The creature lays his hands on Giles head and his slashed arm. The next day Giles is surprised to see that his hair is growing back on his head, and the wound to his arm has healed without a trace of the prior injury. Elisa and the creature become romantically and emotionally involved.

Hoyt is becoming increasingly agitated by Strickland's lack of traction in recovering the creature. He delivers an ultimatum to do so within 36 hours or else suffer the consequences of being wiped off the face of the earth as though he never existed. Meanwhile, Hoffstetler is told that his planned extraction is scheduled for two days hence. As Hoffstetler waits to meet up with his colleagues for the extraction, they are tailed by Strickland who shoots the two senior Russian Agents dead, but not before they popped a few bullets into Hoffstetler. In his dying moments and in the pouring rain, Strickland tortures Hoffstetler for information regarding the gang who allegedly freed the creature. Hoffstetler tells him that it was not a gang, but the cleaners, and then he dies from his wounds. Strickland barges in on Zelda's home and threatens her and her husband. Her husband, terrified for his life, advises that Elisa has been keeping the creature at her apartment. He drives over to Elisa's place, breaks the door down but finds no sign of anyone. Scouting around the apartment looking for clues as to their whereabouts, he spies the hand written note on the wall calendar, for today is the planned day of the creatures release into the canal.

At the canal, down by the waters edge Giles and Elisa bid farewell to the creature. Strickland pulls up in his car and attacks all three of them, pumping two bullets into the chest of the creature and one into Elisa's stomach. They fall down motionless side by side. By now the Police have arrived accompanied by Zelda. Within a few moments, the creature is standing, having self-healed. He walks up to Strickland and with a single swipe of his hand, slices open his throat. The creature picks up the limp body of Elisa and jumps into the canal with her. As they gradually sink, the creature heals her wounds and transforms the scars of either side of her neck into gills. The pair of unlikely lovers are presumed to have lived happily ever after.

This is an engaging Science fantasy dramatic love story that has heart, emotion, danger and intrigue all in equal measure all rolled up in stunning performances from Hawkins, Jenkins, Jones, and Shannon especially who are almost faultless in their roles. Added to this the production values are top notch and del Toro's creative flair continues to demonstrate his unmatched ability to surprise and delight his audience with a fresh and new approach to other worldly old stories of fairy tales and horror, just as he has done here with 'The Creature from the Black Lagoon' influences. 'The Shape of Water' is a rich immersive beautifully realised film in every sense, matched only by his earlier 'Pan's Labyrinth' and certainly well worth the price of your ticket and worthy of its numerous award wins and nominations - you won't be disappointed.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-