Review of The Shape of Water (2017) by Cjhj — 27 Feb 2018

I don't usually write movie reviews, but I was 'inspired' to do so because of how disappointed I was by this movie. It's not that it's bad -- it's OK, in my opinion -- but for the life of me, I cannot understand why it was nominated for a best picture Oscar (which was the whole reason I saw it in the first place -- damn you, Oscars!).

I'm not really familiar with the director's other films, but based on what I read about them, I was expecting something dark, quirky and mysterious. For me, this movie was none of those things. It was bland and predictable (overall). I mean, there were some nice moments (yeah, I laughed at a few of those jokes and felt sorry for the water-man) and some solid 'mise-en-scène' elements (as we used to say in film class). But I found the story to be somewhat simplistic and childlike, which -- in my opinion -- lead directly to the entirely predictable and 'perfect' ending. (Or perhaps the director was going for a childlike fairy-tale type story? Possible, but there's a lot of 'reality' in there too [i.e., graphic sex & violence], so difficult to make that case). Also -- as some other viewers may have noticed -- the tone of the movie seems off in some parts. Like the people in the audience cracked up sometimes when it seemed to be a serious moment, which was confusing. (I should also add that I laughed out loud on three separate occasions during the movie, while some in the audience did so about 10 more times than that, further adding to my confusion.) To be honest, the story seemed to drag through much of the film. Like, it was interesting and I didn't mind watching it (although I did check my watch a couple times), but I wasn't exactly on the edge of my seat or running as fast as I could back from the bathroom, if you know what I mean. Which brings me back to the beginning of this. Why is this movie being touted as the front runner for the best picture Oscar?! Mysterious indeed. I mean I could see this coming on TV in a few years and someone thinking, 'Wow, weird flick about a woman falling in love with a fish-man, but I've got some other things to do' -- CLICK. I've seen Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, The Florida Project and Darkest Hour recently, and I can understand why they've been nominated for various awards, but I'm having some trouble wrapping my head around this one ... oh well, I guess differences of opinion make the world go round.