2017 adult fairy tale
Rating: 16/20
Plot: A mute janitor falls for a merman in the midst of the Cold War.
A movie romance can't work for me unless I also fall in love with the characters, and I imagine that's especially true if one of the two people in that romance is a merman. And I fell in love with both of these characters. Superficially. With mute Eliza, I fell in love with her the moment there was some surprise nudity, and I liked the way she handled her eggs. I loved--and I mean, loved--Sally Hawkins in this. It's easy to see why the aquatic creature fell in love with her so easily. It's not because she's conventionally attractive, but she's got an allure. And Hawkins' performance was just dynamite, so expressive and capable of saying so much without saying a single word. I think she might be my new favorite actress.
With the creature, it was all about the ass. I'm joking, at least a little, but I did come across this article all about the guy's butt. That "amphibious man" is played by Indianapolis's own, Doug Jones, who also played the Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth. I don't remember what his posterior looked like.
All fairy tales need a villain, and this has a good one with Michael Shannon's character. The Cold War backdrop added this consistent tension, but one of my favorite parts of the love story is how the romantic parts of this almost seemed oblivious to the surrounding darkness and intrigue.
Fairy tales need helper characters, too, and I loved both Octavia Spencer as Eliza's co-worker/fellow-janitor and the great Richard Jenkins as her quirky artist friend.
The Shape of Water is visually stunning, and I'm not just talking about that guy's ass. Guillermo del Toro uses color well, and his camera moves so effortlessly through the characters' apartments and the research facility. A lot of the visuals reminded me of those Caro/Jeunet films from the 90's (City of Lost Children, Delicatessen), and more movies need to look like that. It struck similar tones and levels of quirk. There are so many standout scenes--simple ones like Hawkins' character living a life of routines (including the aforementioned handling of eggs and a daily bathtub masturbation session), a lovely opening sequence where we get a glimpse of Eliza's subconscious desires, some gorgeous and moving and completely improbably romance.
I can see how this movie won the Best Picture category. Such a simple idea executed so wonderfully. The acting was so good. I mean, the characters were very flat, but you loved the people you were supposed to love and hated the ones you were supposed to hate. Richard Jenkins should have gotten the Best Supporting Actor, in my opinion. I feel like he played that role better than almost any actor out there. It's almost as if they wrote the part with a "Richard Jenkins-like character" in mind and realized, oh, we could just hire Richard-freaking-Jenkins, one of the best character actors in town. You're right about Sally Hawkins: she does have an allure (good word you used). The part was written so well to give her such a fighting chance in this story. You would think she meek and mousey, but then she's furiously masturbating, and signing FUCK YOU to "the man", and sabotaging high-stakes government intel in the middle of the Cold War, and sleeping around with strange mermen...I thought she was brilliant in her portrayal of the character. And a friend of mine's mom went to college with the fishman! He played the zombie in Hocus Pocus, Abe the aquatic guy in Hellboy, the Pale Man in that other movie...
ReplyDeleteThe other thing I wanted to talk to you about is the use of color in the movie. I did some research and look at theories on why specific colors (namely red and green) were used over and over. Here was the best site I came up with to support my theory.
https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/84215/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-color-green-in-the-shape-of-water
Basically, GREEN = bad and RED = good. Green has to do with lying and greed and trying to be something you're not (the website sums it up as a "mask"). Red has more to do with truth and being who you really are. Here are some specific examples:
- When Giles completes his first ad for red Jello, he shows it to his superior who tells him that it needs to be redone with green - Jello because 'Green is the color of the future'.
- Elisa and Giles eat green Key Lime Pie from the pie shop, but it isn't very good
- At one point, Richard Strickland and his family are seen eating green Jello in front of the TV
- Strickland buys a new green car, but him and the car salesmen do not agree on what color the car is (Teal vs. Green)
- Strickland eats small green candies
- Strickland drives the car everyone keeps calling green (even him when he buys it!).
- Strickland's fingers are oozing green pus and turning a greenish color for most of the movie, until he gets orders from the general to go all out and hunt down Amphibian Man at all costs. Strickland starts showing his true colors, and at the peak of his transformation, he is righteously reciting a bible verse, at which point he removes his fingers (the green) and blood (red) replaces the green pus color.
- Giles creates the poster with red jello, but the people hiring him know he is gay and don't want to work with him. At the same time, they don't want to admit that, so they tell him "green is the color of the future", and promptly deny him the contract/sale, whatever. What I think they were actually saying is "You don't belong here in your true form, and if you had masked yourself to fit in, things would be different."
- Every pie Giles gets is a key lime pie (green), until the day he reveals himself to his crush at the pie shop, when he gets (I think) a strawberry pie (a red/orange pie). Once he reveals himself, he is shot down again just like the poster gig.
- Elisa wears green to her work, until she has sex with Amphibian Man, then she starts wearing red (her shoes, her overcoat)...
- Hoffstetler bleeds red when he is shot through the cheek. I think this is symbolic of him talking out of the side of his mouth because he is a spy and this happens once he is found out (his true self revealed).
I know some of these are a reach, but I just think it really holds water (no pun intended).
Seems to be a variety of reactions to this movie, but I really think people who don't like it are just unwilling to give it credit for being much smarter than they think it is. They want to see it as a story about a woman falling for a fish guy, and although that's definitely a plot element, you're right that there is a lot more underneath the surface. No pun intended there either.
ReplyDeleteI knew something was going on with the colors. The Jello bits kind of gave that away, I think, almost like a key. I really couldn't figure out what the colors meant and would need to see it again, but you raise an interesting idea. It's ironic that red, in a movie that involves the Cold War, would be the "good" color. I don't think I noticed that Sally Hawkins' clothes changed colors. Maybe I was too distracted by the parts of the movie where she wasn't wearing anything at all. That was my favorite color on her!
I like that I can reply to an intelligent comment with something so juvenile. I think it's a gift.
Wait...you're three degrees of separation from the fish man? The closest claim to fame I have is working with Carla at Lynhurst who went to high school with Joyce DeWitt. Makes me feel like I am a character on Three's Company.
Richard Jenkins is always good. He's just one of those actors who I always like to see in movies--like Jack Nance. I don't know if I would have picked him for Best Supporting Actor. I kind of wanted Dafoe to win. I definitely wouldn't have minded Jenkins winning though.
I am a little mad that this won Best Score over Phantom Thread although I did listen to it at school the week after the Oscars and really liked it. The students didn't. I know that I thought the music fit well while I was watching it, but I didn't think it was anything special. I might have been wrong. Still, Phantom Thread should have won that one.
I really feel like I need to see this one again because I know there's a lot more going on below that surface level. I was kind of surprised that it won Best Picture, but I think it's one that will remain relevant for many many years, and I do think it has themes that fit perfectly with the horrible year that was 2017. Of course, I thought that about Three Billboards, too.