The Shape of Water is Guillermo Del Toro’s best film since Pan’s Labyrinth and quite honestly, might be his best film ever. First off, Sally Hawkins pulls off an amazing performance as Elisa. Hawkins sells a character who is mute using all of her acting talents outside of speech and she nails it. With this performance, Hawkins is a clear front runner for Best Actress. And she’s not alone in putting in a wonderful performance. Michael Shannon’s Richard Strickland is truly a hideous man who is the true monster and villain of this film. Shannon’s character continually morphs into a despicable human being throughout the film. Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer and Michael Stuhlbarg also put in great performances.

 

And then there’s Doug Jones who, like Andy Serkis, never really seems to get credit for the work he puts in acting-wise when he dons prosthetics for a creature. His background in mime-work really does show and he's able to communicate emotion with gestures extremely well

 

Del Toro shot this film beautifully. Certain scenes are shot in almost the same way a play is but with cinematic quality. The water effects are truly beautiful. Add in a great score and it's not hard to see why this film is getting a lot of buzz for Oscar season.

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