The Shape of Water

Locations
Call Number: DVD Fantasy Shape
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Traverwood Branch, Westgate Branch

Title from sell sheet.
Originally released as a motion picture in 2017.
Wide screen (1.85:1).
Special features: A fairy tale for troubled times; theatrical trailers.
Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon.
An otherworldly fairy tale, set against the backdrop of Cold War-era America circa 1962. In the hidden high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa is trapped in a life of isolation. Elisa's life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda discover a secret classified experiment.
DVD, wide screen (1.85:1); Dolby digital 5.1 (English), Dolby digital 2.0 (Spanish, French); described video.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

A del Toro-style romance submitted by ferielp on June 15, 2018, 1:14pm Sally Hawkins was amazing, as was the whole aesthetic of the film. In my mind it wasn't quite worthy of its Oscar, considering the competition this year.

Worth the buzz submitted by heapah on July 30, 2018, 9:39pm A beautiful and unique love story. Worth the buzz.

Silly Movie submitted by LVDS on August 25, 2018, 11:27am A 'classic' story with a twist......mad scientist doesn't like alien-tries to kill him, mute girl falls in love with sea monster or 'god' and tries to save him..

Ridiculous submitted by lstorc on August 31, 2018, 10:29pm The cinematography is beautiful. The characters are almost intolerable. The plot is completely ridiculous.

Beautiful! submitted by Xris on October 11, 2018, 11:19pm The setting of this 60's period piece is so beautiful! And the love story that it tells is wonderful. You really hate the bad guy too. And I love that they used sign language. :)

Most Fantasy movies are really LAME, but NOT this one! Excellent! submitted by Tassos on March 7, 2019, 8:44am Very entertaining. One forgives the minor lame bits.

It’s worth a watch submitted by RebeccaWittekindt on June 18, 2019, 8:19am I enjoyed this movie... not to the extent of critics and award givers, but worth my time. I was actually surprised at some of the cheese factor for a movie getting so much hype. It looks nice and the story is odd, I say give it a go.

strange but good submitted by kbahleda on June 20, 2019, 10:28am Worth watching and very interesting...not at all what you think

Different submitted by moola on July 13, 2019, 11:55am Very unique type of love story

You have to remember it’s a fantasy submitted by ccrose on July 24, 2019, 3:30pm My second time to watch it. What I noticed this time is an overall effort to make it clear it’s fairy tale, using quirky touches of acting (how the main character walks, movements cut to minimum on camera almost like choreographed) the costumes of lives that are dull and unfulfilled (olive green, real dulled down conversations) the setting of a big bad secret lab with military olive green the theme color, dialogue between a couple, both mute. The ways erotic attraction are played out: the emerald color appears when the fish man and woman fall in love, like the photograph on cover, sinking and twining in emerald water. It’s a key issue, a curiosity of a coworker, as to how “it”works? Suspend your wish for realism and you’ll get the message of acceptance of those who are different. In the long run, that good always trumps evil.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ submitted by majean on July 27, 2019, 2:02pm Glad I saw it, but did not end up liking it.

Weird submitted by gxtan on August 5, 2019, 11:39am Normally I like weird, but not this time. The plot was just too strange/predictable/unrealistic (even in the context of the movie). Otherwise, the acting, characters, setting, and music were all good.

del Toro! submitted by mellonir on August 16, 2019, 3:50am Pan's Labyrinth, the first two Hellboy movies, The Devil's Backbone. Guillermo del Toro has become one of my favorite filmmakers. Interesting to note that Doug Jones plays a similar "fishman", Abe Sapien, in the Hellboy movies and eats hard-boiled eggs.
del Toro makes weird films, so it was interesting to so see this one win "Best Film" at the Oscars.
Final Grade= A.

The shape of water submitted by a2sue on July 29, 2021, 7:30am Incredible and unexpectedly good. I love offbeat films!

Paul was wrong submitted by tarascon on July 3, 2023, 11:51am Childhood was that magical age when skin tone didn’t matter, love was unqualified, and dancing was a legitimate way to get around so it’s a shame that most “adults” have been trained in our culture that a lively imagination and nonlethal toys should be put aside. Prosaic reality is where grownups go to die…
That said this is a fantasy for those folks wise enough to revisit those borderlands we once felt free to roam.