The Shape of Water

— An adult fairy tale with some horror and espionage too, along with a greenish tint to some extraordinarily detailed, textured, lush, beautiful images. Sally Hawkins portrays her character with just the right amount of softness and sensitivity and the entire cast is good enough to overcome a storyline that would have been too far-fetched otherwise and, even so, it definitely requires a suspension of disbelief. Occasionally it’s a little obvious, but I’m sure there were even more references and nods to the past I missed. It grabbed me completely for the viewing, raising issues about love, longing, completeness, sexuality, gender, race, inclusion—pretty much most of the current day issues of political contention. I loved the feel of the film, maybe even more than what there was to take away, and I think its an amazing feat to mix such fanciful elements and storylines into something that flowed so smoothly and believably. Definitely worth seeing.

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[2017. 123 min. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Starring Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins, Michael Shannon, and Michael Stuhlbarg.]
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/movies/the-shape-of-water-review-guillermo-del-toro.html