The Creature of the Black Lagoon and Zaat aside, The Shape of Water is the Citizen Kane of amphibious man movies.  Director and co-writer Guillermo del Toro has fashioned a singular cinematic experience that defies easy categorization, spans many genres, is genuinely beautiful (and erotic) to watch and, perhaps most surprisingly, has captured the public fancy.  Not everything works, but so much does that the film is a rousing success.

Guillermo del Toro’s film, like so many of Quentin Tarantino’s, borrows heavily from images and archetypes made familiar over the years in all sorts of movies.  While this is somewhat distracting, it is also fascinating to observe, and invaluable in decoding the puzzle he is constructing.  I think del Toro goes too far with one musical number (performed by the otherwise mute Sally Hawkins), but I understand why he included it.  His watery fable depends upon our acceptance of the amphibious being, our horror at the cruelty to which it is inflicted, and our understanding that its relationship with Elisa Esposito (Hawkins) is the essence of love, without irony or snickering or pathos.  The film’s reliance on its own “straight” narrative recalls the early Frankenstein films, and is that much more effective because of it.

Anyhow one looks at it, The Shape of Water is a remarkable achievement.  Its story-as-Cold War-fable is engrossing and explosive; its special effects are completely convincing; its acting is tremendous.  Imagine taking something as potentially goofy as a romance between a mute woman and a Gill Man and turning it into a piece of art; that is exactly what Guillermo del Toro has done.  It is by turns funny, grotesque, romantic, unnerving, suspenseful, tragic and uplifting.  It is perhaps the most audacious movie of 2017.

That being said, it isn’t for everyone.  One man, upon leaving the theater where we were showing it, said, “That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever seen.” But far more people are entranced, and I’m one of them.  If you can allow yourself to suspend disbelief for a couple of hours, The Shape of Water is a terrific cinematic experience awaiting your attention.  ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2.  3 March 2018.