Its been a while since a Guillermo del Toro movie wowed me and knocked me back on my heels.
NeitherPacific RimnorCrimson Peakreally did it for me.
I might have to go all the way back toPans Labyrinth, and that was a decade ago.
The good news is,The Shape of Waterdoesnt disappoint.
Its both weird and wonderful.
And the movie, which isveryadult, has a childlike sense of wonder and fantasy.
Richard Jenkins is aces as Elisas closeted starving-artist neighbor.
The same goes for Octavia Spencer as her loyal wisecracking co-worker.
A gonzo Michael Shannon (is there any other kind?)
smirks and snarls as the creatures sadistic, cattle-prod-wielding jailer.
And Michael Stuhlbarg does a lot with a little as the scientist whos sympathetic to the misunderstood merman.
But not as sympathetic as Elisa, who forms an unlikely intimacy with it.
If this all sounds bizarre, well, it is.
But its also poignant, tender, funny, romantic, and flat-out breathtaking in its shoot-the-moon ambition.
Theres even a Busby Berkeley dance-fantasia number!
