As homages to 50s creature features go, The Shape of Water is a near perfect one. The twist on the normal formula is that Hawkins' mute Elisa quickly grows to sympathise with and fall in love with Jones' amphibian man as she is denied the normal scream response. I think I spotted nods to Amelie and Delicatessen too.Hawkins' highly expressive performance is utterly absorbing and Jenkins' is her gentle foil who clues the audience in on any necessary exposition. Also of note, Shannon adds another brutal and troubled hard man to his catalogue, while Stuhlbarg gives us another ambiguous one.
A word also to the marine inspired colour palette which imbues the production with a wonderful dream-like quality. At one point, a character gently mocks this and a modern trend in movie grading generally - by exclaiming "it's teal, not blue".
Verdict: Wonderful fantasy romance.
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