Wednesday, September 13, 2017

TIFF 2017: The Shape of Water

Guillermo del Toro at Q&A after The Shape of Water

The Shape of Water is Guillermo del Toro's latest film, a monster movie, love story, and commentary on otherness. Sally Hawkins plays Elisa, a mute janitor working at a mysterious government lab, where a creature resembling the Creature From The Black Lagoon arrives for research. The creature is not being well-treated by the man in charge of him, Strickland (Michael Shannon) who loses a couple fingers in an early encounter. Elisa however is entranced by him (the creature, not Strickland, who is the true monster in this film), and gradually finds ways to communicate with him. When she learns that Strickland plans to kill the creature, she decides she must find a way to free him.

This is a story of those who are different being misunderstood by the greater society, and del Toro spoke at length about that theme in the Q&A after the film. He also told us before the film that all screenings of this film are being held at the Elgin theatre because it was used as a set. It was remarkable to sit in the theatre watching scenes set in the theatre!

This is a beautiful, powerful and moving film, and one that del Toro invested hundreds of thousands of his own dollars into working on over a period of a few years, before he had a deal to get it made. He is rightly proud of it, and it's one of the best films I've seen at the festival so far.


TIFF 2017 Overview

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