Movies: Big Winner At Oscars 2018 “The Shape Of Water” Still Showing In Philippine Cinemas

“The Shape of Water”, this year’s biggest winner at the recently concluded 90th Academy Awards that won top awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best in Original Score and Best Production Design is still showing in Philippine cinemas – S’Maison, SM Mall of Asia, SM North Edsa, Greenhills Theatermall, Powerplant, Rockwell Santolan, SM Cauayan, SM Seaside, SM Cebu, SM Rosales, Eastwood and Robinson’s Galleria.

An uplifting, inspiring and totally entertaining movie, “The Shape of Water” hits home as it relates to local Pinoy folklore and romance.  Directed by Guillermo del Toro who has dedicated his life to fairy tales and fantastical creatures, his fascination with the macabre has marked all of his features since his 1993 directorial debut Cronos.  From his earliest days growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico, telling stories about escaping to realms governed by monsters was in his DNA.

“The Shape of Water” brings its audience into a mysterious government facility where, in the deepest recesses of the lab, an amphibious creature (played by Doug Jones) is being studied for its unusual abilities. As Agent Strickland (Michael Shannon) demands for it to be killed and autopsied, Dr. Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg) insists that the creature’s secrets can only be revealed with a lighter touch.  But it’s the facility’s quietest employee who realises the truest connection to the creature. Mute cleaner Elisa (Sally Hawkins) feels a strange affinity with this mysterious visitor from the deep. And as the men in charge prevaricate, she resolves to release the creature from its captors, with the aid of her friend Zelda (Octavia Spencer) and her next door neighbour Giles (Richard Jenkins).

Movie Review: The Shape of Water

Unable to perceive the shape of you, I find you all around d me. Your presence fills my eyes with your love, it humbles my heart, for you are everywhere.

In a time where "love stories" have been limited to "romantic comedies" and subjected to perverse "Valentines releases" (yes, I'm looking at you "Fifty Shades" franchise) - "The Shape of Water" shows us that even in the strangest of places (secret laboratory) and during the most curious of times (the Cold War) and with the most mysterious of myths and circumstances, love grows and thrives; despite the many challenges surrounding it. 

Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is a mute custodian in a secret laboratory in 1962 Baltimore becomes fascinated with an "amphibian man" / creature that is brought in to be studied and experimented on, so that he can be used in the space race against the Russians. 

The "amphibian man" also known as "the asset" reveals violent tendencies and attacks the man who captured him in a river in South Africa, the intense and cruel Richard Strickland, played by Micheal Shannon. Despite this brutal attack Elisa forms a bond with the creature, teaching it how to use sign language as well as introducing music and hard boiled eggs. 

When the order comes to terminate the creature in order to dissect it, Elisa must act fast before its too late. 

The film is such a testament to an adult fairy tale that you can actually see yourself opening a story book about this strange yet captivating love story. Its well deserved wins during the recent 90th Academy Awards is a testament to that. Best Director Guilermo del Toro creates such a vivid world that you can actually smell it and taste it. You can feel the cold and damp in the air as the rain pours down. 

The sets are so visceral you would actually want to clean out the dirt and the grime, which is funny considering that as custodians its the job of Elisa to actually "clean". Small details such as broken tiles on the wall make the sets more realistic and yet still keep in time with their unique flavor and feel. Winning Best Achievement in Production Design is evidence of that. 

I also have to give a shout out to the effective and hilarious tandem of Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer who were without a doubt a dynamic duo on their own, earning nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively for their roles. I believe that being mute, Elisa needed a "voice" and a "translator" in the story and this became Octavia Spencer's hilarious and outspoken Zelda and Elisa's closeted neighbor Giles, played by Richard Jenkin's who is also nominated for Best Supporting Actor. The two could not be more different but share the same love for Elisa and in extension the amphibian man. 

As a testament to its 1960's setting the film also features the best music of the period through classic Hollywood movies and with some cute dancing from Elisa and Giles, I guess living on top of a movie theater has its advantages, which could also be attributed to its Original Score Academy Award win. 

Truly a "love story for troubled times" -9/10 the film is a must see for those looking for a little magic and mystery in their life. It will transport you to a curious time and place with even more curious characters. Despite its oddities you will realize that love has always transcended anything and everything and isn't that where its magic really lies in? 

Movies: Doug Jones Takes On The Shape Of Sexy Male Amphibian In Award-Winning “The Shape Of Water”

Doug Jones has made a career out of playing monsters, ghouls and creatures of myth. The former contortionist is a legend in sci-fi, fantasy and horror circles for his unique ability to morph into roles as diverse as the Thin Clown in “Batman Returns,” Joey in “Men in Black 2” and the Silver Surfer in “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” He recently played a series regular on “Star Trek: Discovery,” as the alien being Lt. Saru.

He’s best known for his collaborations with Guillermo del Toro, which started in 1997 with “Mimic,” and continued with roles in “Hellboy” and “Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” as Abe Sapien; “Pan’s Labyrinth,” as The Faun and The Pale Man; and most recently “The Strain” and “Crimson Peak.”

But their latest work together on “The Shape of Water” might be definitive. Jones’ amphibian creature is both the love interest and one of the principal leads of del Toro’s film, and it requires every tool in Jones’ arsenal to realise.   Set in the height of the Cold War and during the space race, “The Shape of Water” brings its audience into a mysterious government facility in Baltimore where, in the deepest recesses of the lab, an amphibious creature (Jones) is being studied for its unusual abilities. As Strickland (Michael Shannon), in charge of security, demands for it to be killed and autopsied, Dr. Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg) insists that the creature’s secrets can only be revealed with a lighter touch.

Movies: An Enthralling Escape To Fantasy In “The Shape Of Water” On February 21 NAationwide

“The Shape of Water” brings its audience into a mysterious government facility in Baltimore where, in the deepest recesses of the lab, an amphibious creature (played by Doug Jones) is being studied for its unusual abilities. As Agent Strickland (Michael Shannon) demands for it to be killed and autopsied, Dr. Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg) insists that the creature’s secrets can only be revealed with a lighter touch.

But it’s the facility’s quietest employee who realises the truest connection to the creature. Mute cleaner Elisa (Sally Hawkins) feels a strange affinity with this mysterious visitor from the deep. And as the men in charge prevaricate, she resolves to release the creature from its captors, with the aid of her colleague Zelda (Octavia Spencer) and her next door neighbour Giles (Richard Jenkins).

The movie is directed by award winning director Guillermo Del Toro who is best renowned for his three inspired Spanish-language films that reinvent and upend the very notion of genre:  the multiple Oscar®-winning “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Cronos,” and “The Devil’s Backbone.”  Each is a vivid phantasmagoria navigating the moral and physical dangers of a world of corruption, authoritarianism and war.  His supernatural action epics are equally as inventive – “Blade II,” the “Hellboy” series, and “Pacific Rim,” as well as his gothic romance “Crimson Peak.”

Movies: Best Actress Nominee Sally Hawkins In A Love Affair Beyond Words In “The Shape Of Water”

Acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro, known for his hit feature films “Hellboy” and “Pacific Rim” brings a new world far beyond one’s imagination in “The Shape of Water”, composed of a stellar cast that includes Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones and Michael Stuhlbarg.

“The Shape of Water” is a fairy tale set in the Cold War era that sees the journey of Elisa (Hawkins), a mute janitress in a highly-secured government facility who connected and fell in love with a marine creature (Jones).  From Elisa’s loneliness and powerlessness, she soon becomes a heroine who takes huge risks, made all the more extraordinary because the role is almost without words.  Rendered mute by a childhood trauma, Elisa communicates in American Sign Language (ASL), but she is able to express herself effusively when she encounters the strange aquatic creature being warehoused in the government lab where she works as a cleaning lady.  Elisa sees none of the creature’s oddities when she sets eyes on the iridescent beauty in chains – to her, he is sheer loneliness and that makes him instantly worthy of her attention.

Elisa’s rich and brave interior world comes to life via a luminous performance from Academy Award® nominee Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky, Blue Jasmine) that propels the story forward at every turn.  Hawkins knew instantly there has never been and will never be a role quite like Elisa.  “It’s so rare that you get a role that asks you to put it all out there.  Where it’s about unadulterated expression and words are not needed, and you have the freedom to express so much through your eyes, breath and body. That is Elisa.”

Movies: 20TH Cetnury Fox’s Award-Winning Movies In Cinemas This February

Frances McDormand in Three Billboards In Ebbing Missouri

Shaping to be this year’s major award frontrunners, 20th Century Fox’s / Fox Searchlight’s highly-acclaimed films “The Shape of Water” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” have already bagged major awards from the 75th Golden Globe Awards and the 23rd Critics’ Choice Awards.

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” is a darkly comedic drama from Academy Award® winner Martin McDonagh (In Bruges).  After months have passed without a culprit in her daughter’s murder case, Mildred Hayes (Academy Award® winner Frances McDormand) makes a bold move, commissioning three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at William Willoughby (Academy Award® nominee Woody Harrelson), the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell), an immature mother’s boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.  A last stand erupts in as a mother is pushed to the edge by her daughter’s unsolved murder.

From this year’s Golden Globe Awards, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” has already won Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Screenplay for a Motion Picture – Martin McDonagh, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama – Frances McDormand and Best Supporting Actor – Sam Rockwell.  The film also took home major awards in this year’s Critics’ Choice Awards for Best Acting Ensemble, Best Actress – Frances McDormand and Best Supporting Actor – Sam Rockwell.

Movies: Acclaimed Filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro Gives Romance Genre A New Form In “The Shape Of Water”

Take a deep breath and plunge deeply into the latest genre-defying romance fantasy movie “The Shape of Water” starring an impressive cast that includes Academy winner Octavia Spencer with Academy Award nominees Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon and Richard Jenkins along with Doug Jones, known for his pivotal nonhuman roles.

From master storyteller, Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Book of Life), comes “The Shape of Water”,  an other-worldly fairy tale, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962.  In the hidden high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa (Hawkins) is trapped in a life of isolation.  Elisa’s life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda (Spencer) discover a secret classified experiment.

Click trailer  https://www.facebook.com/20thcenturyfoxphilippines/videos/10159365202955582/

“The Shape of Water” opens February 2018 in cinemas from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.