When you win an Academy Award for Best Directing, you can do pretty much anything you want regarding creative control as a director. Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Crimson Peak) has elevated himself to the point where his constraints have been lifted. Following his Best Director Academy Award (The Shape of Water), del Toro could have picked whatever project he wanted to do next, and he would have had swarms of A-list actors lined up to work with him. Ironically, with Nightmare Alley, he went about as mainstream as he’s ever gone before. This is not to say this 2021 Best Picture nominee isn’t without its share of the bizarre.
Category Archives: Richard Jenkins
The Shape of Water (2017)
Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Crimson Peak) adult fairytale The Shape of Water is a movie we’ve seen so many different times in so many different forms that it’s a wonder that we’d even be willing to see it again. Starcrossed lovers find themselves in a forbidden love situation while fighting off some catastrophe, or at least societal pressures. Think Titanic, a nearly perfect movie that showcased this is in a way that will never be forgotten by any who watches it. So how does del Toro pull off this story in a completely original yet equally compelling way? Well, he does it in a way that only del Toro can do. And in doing so, he creates both the most unparalleled and also (with no disrespect to Call Me By Your Name) the most romantic movie of 2017. This movie certainly is not for everyone. If Thor: Ragnarok or Justice League is more your thing, then I’m not even sure I’d consider The Shape of Water. This is the ultimate independent movie, and if you go into this movie with the mindset that you’ll be able to enjoy the ride and not have to think, you’ll be in for a long two hours. In a year where the movies have been the worse they’ve been since I began my blog in 2010, the uniqueness of the movies (rather than the quality of them) has really defined this year.
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