After his 2015 Crimson Peak left critics divided, the new movie from Guillermo del Toro has brought all together with one simple message: The Shape of Water is very, very good indeed.
“Centered on an exquisite performance from Sally Hawkins that conveys both delicacy and strength, this is a visually and emotionally ravishing fantasy that should find a welcome embrace from audiences starved for imaginative escape,” raved The Hollywood Reporter‘s David Rooney.
The film, which premiered at Venice, follows a mute cleaner at a U.
S. government aerospace facility who bonds with an amphibious creature.Thanks to the lightness of touch and dedication of all involved, Rooney said, the romance between a woman and a sea creature transcends its genre roots: “A lesser filmmaker might have rendered all this as simply a gender-flipped Splash, but del Toro’s attention to nuance makes it an utterly transporting fable with very real stakes and convincing political overtones … this meticulously crafted jewel is del Toro’s most satisfying work since Pan’s Labyrinth.”
The Playlist‘s Jessica Kiang agreed, calling the movie “the greatest showcase for del Toro’s mercurial, dark-tinged but delightful sensibilities, and his best film since Pan’s Labyrinth.” She continued, “There is unmistakable, idiosyncratic care poured into every frame of The Shape of Water, saturated with del Toro’s offbeat compassion and looping, pattern-recognition intelligence.”
For The Guardian‘s Xan Brooks, it was even more impressive; the “sweet, sad and sexy” movie was, he suggested, del…
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