If you haven’t seen the new film, The Shape of Water, I suggest that you do, but not for the reason that you think. I don’t know if I have ever seen as strange a movie as this one, and that’s saying a lot coming from me. So what really gets me is the fact that it’s nominated for Best Picture! If you have seen it, feel free to disagree, but as soon as the last scene faded out, I was just as confused as I was when the movie started. In any case, I’ll get into some of the details below, so if you haven’t seen this movie – well, actually even if you haven’t seen it you might as well keep reading because even knowing what’s going to happen won’t make you less confused.
First of all, I’d like to know how one falls in love with a fish. I understand a platonic love between a fish-owner and their fish, but to really feel attracted to a fish means delving into a pretty strange conversation. In the span of only 15 minutes, you watch as the mute main character, Eliza, goes from feeding a silent fish man to really being in love with it. In the movie, Eliza feels a connection to this fish man because he doesn’t see her lack of verbal language as a disadvantage, but still?! There are other fish in the sea! Their relationship even goes so far that the two are living together and practically dating, which I found quite odd. So, the fact that Eliza’s best friend and coworker did not have any qualms about their her strange lover seemed unrealistic to me.
Another part of the movie that didn’t sit with me particularly well was the role of Strickland, the brutal government agent who is in charge of the fish man. Pretty early on in the film Strickland gets two of his fingers bitten off by the fish and then gets them reattached. As the movie goes on, his fingers become infected, black and odorous, despite still being sewn onto his hands. So, naturally while in a heated argument, he rips them from his body for dramatic effect. It was pretty clear that the state of his fingers was some sort of metaphor for his mental state, but it also happened to be quite disgusting watching the progression of his dying appendages. The actor, Michael Shannon, who played the crazy Strickland, actually did a very good job of portraying a clearly semi-deranged man, but the extent that the director went to make him appear so were nearly over the top.
Now, the fact that The Shape of Water is nominated for the most Oscars of any film this year, is certainly confusing to me. As I was watching it, it felt like the plots of multiple (already existing) movies stitched together – the classic jailbreak story mixed with a forbidden love, but taken to a very strange, very graphic level. The cinematography was very creative at parts, but overall the feeling that the movie left me with was uneasiness. It was downright creepy and weird and I feel like there is no other way to describe it. I went into watching this movie with an open mind because I knew it was nominated for so many awards, so I was excited to see it, but I have to say it seems like the only explanation could be that the Academy didn’t have too many movies to choose from this year…