Interspecies love story just seen theatrically: THE SHAPE OF WATER (2017), starring Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, and Nick Searcy.
This is the one about the mute lady falling in love with a merman.
I love Sally Hawkins. I really only know her from a very few movies, of which one, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, written specifically for her, prompted a level of adoration for a character that I do not often feel. This one depended entirely on us feeling the same thing for her protagonist, and she gave the film exactly what it needed, most notably in a key scene where she “speaks” her heart to her next-door neighbor (Jenkins), a man who is as much an alien in the world as she is, and the merman is.
Michael Shannon’s villain is…not quite as satisfying. Honestly, he’s written to be one-dimensionally despicable – a bigot, a jingoist, a sadist, a guy who stands at the urinal peeing in the presence of two cleaning ladies, and who doesn’t wash his hands afterward – and it becomes, after a while, a potential drinking game to watch him pull another asinine behavior out of his deck of cards. Shannon is great at playing villains, but honestly, if you want the audience to hate a guy, give him some charm, present him as having some contrastingly human behaviors. See Shannon’s performance in 99 HOMES, for instance.
That said, what Nick Searcy’s General says to him, about decency, is downright chilling.
Not the great film some are painting it as. But by gum, a very enjoyable one.
Comment By: Adam-Troy Castro
January 1st, 2018 at 7:18 pm
Honestly: HAPPY-GO-LUCKY is astonishing.
(Every once in a while I see Sally Hawkins in a movie where she is just filling space, a GODZILLA for instance, and I think: Jeez, is that the best you can do with her?)
Comment By: Keith R.A. DeCandido
January 1st, 2018 at 7:00 pm
You only made this a blog post so you could use that headline, didn’t you?
—KRAD
Comment By: Adam-Troy Castro
January 1st, 2018 at 8:01 pm
Yes.
Comment By: T Popoki Reed
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:18 pm
I abso-frakking-lutely loved this film. I appreciated everything about it. The casting, alone, was perfection, but the dialogue (and yes, even the sign language), the art and stage production, the monster design, the MUSIC, the cinematography, everything was lovely.
Ah, you reminded to buy the soundtrack. Thank you.