The Shape of Water (2017)

The Shape of Water, where to begin. Again we were lucky enough to catch this early at an Odeon Screen Unsceen a few weeks ago. A Del Toro picture about a mute woman that forms a relationship with an otherworldly creature kept in a research facility in the 50's. When this first got a bit of buzz all I remember hearing was, a woman has sex with a fish man. That is a bit odd right? We'll get back to that but it's Del Toro so get over it.

Guillermo del Toro is known for his fantasy characters and settings and his peculiar stories. As per usual he has a story which embellishes the use of intricate costume and make up. And this is no exception. 

The 1950's setting is pretty perfect for the story, though we were given odd reminders. It's an interesting take that in the 50's two of the characters that have the most dialogue are a closeted gay man and a black woman. But in return the film handles the stigma towards each of them in an odd rashness that just isn't necessary to the narrative. Yes it happened and yes it should be accurate but was less than subtle on occasion and felt out of place at times. 

Now Oscar nominated Sally Hawkins plays our mute leading lady Elisa Esposito. She comes across quiet, not just because she can't talk but because she lets others do the talking. She has a routine and as we find out, a tragic backstory. She's quite quirky and has long accepted she can't speak but not quite accepted that people treat her differently. My gal Octavia Spencer is of course nominated for Best Support as Zelda, one of Elisa's two friends. Used to having a silent friend she does a great job in talking to herself and reacting to Elisa's lack of vocal reaction. Her other best friend relies on Elisa more than he realises, Giles, who lives next door though it may as well be together. Again Oscar nominated, are you sensing a theme? Richard Jenkins plays an older man who is struggling to get back into selling his art to advertisers. Struggling to be true to himself he, like Elisa, sees a part of him in the Amphibian Man and his treatment. Michael Stuhlbarg is fantastic, plays a character with a developed backstory and earns his likeability. Feels like he's the only aspect of the film to not get recognised by the academy, which is a shame as he really was great to watch. Michael Shannon is pretty damn engaging. He's pretty awful, pretty extra. Great character, power hunger aggressor in and out of work. Being the person that captured the Amphibian man he holds a level of possessiveness. 

The amphibian man, who is never named (not even when Elisa brings him home) is played by Doug Jones. At this point Doug must be bessie mates with Guillermo, his most well-known parts include, Abe Sapien from Hellboy (2008) and Fauno/Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth (2006). Outside of Del Toro's work he's played a lot of roles which are alien or monster or mutant, I hope he doesn't take that personally. But he's good at it. The creature begins just that, a creature, an animal, regardless of its potential intelligence we can't communicate. After Elisa begins to teach him basic sign language we see that he is capable of learning and remembers the humane habits she keeps. That's kind of the extent of his character development, anything further than that is more Elisa's feelings projected onto him. 

The relationship between Elisa and the creature is okay, you don't entirely buy into it but you kinda do. She has a thing for water so connecting that to sex isn't a great leap for her somehow. The distance put between her and most people due to her muteness isn't there with him as he's in the same position. And regards to the sex thing she very briefly discusses how it works, only see lady body parts I'm afraid. Though we see their relationship we see a biased version from her perspective and don't get to see how he feels throughout. But that's likely the point.

Racking up 13 academy award nominations the costume and makeup have got to get some attention. Both work well with the environment, Del Toro's use of practical effects comes as authentic and true. The artistic element to it is emphasised with the music and score, rightly so, has received many nominations. Beautifully fitting to the narrative and each scene, the highlight of the movie for me personally. 

I thought the ending was fitting. I felt oddly satisfied when the credits rolled which is all I want from a film. It is a good film, maybe a great film but 13 nominations feels almost excessive for something that isn’t quite timeless yet, but hey time will tell. Beautiful film worth a watch 7.5/10

CIINEMATES - A

Hidden Figures (2017)

So we've recently signed up to be a part of Show Film First, a website which offers free cinema tickets to previews of upcoming shows. We're often going to midnight releases so we thought why not get some previews in before those too. As luck had it one of the first opportunities we had was to see one of the nine Best Picture nominations Hidden Figures.

The story of three African American women facing diversity as mathematicians in the early years of NASA. It sounds like something that's meant to be a film doesn't it? Like many I wonder why I hadn't heard of these women and their story before. I remember once reading online that there was a woman that worked at NASA that was so smart that when they first started using computers they had her double check the calculations. As one the the astronauts in the film says, 'it's hard to trust the workings of something you can't look in the eye.' Yet after hearing of this potentially fictional woman I was never told that she was African American. Being black in America is a tiring as it is, let alone in the 60's. Then on top of that, being a woman in a male dominated environment? Frankly it sounds exhausting. The film accents prejudice with a somewhat calculated restraint. Everyone watching the film is aware of the history, we're all aware of stereotypes and assumptions of the time. The audience is smart enough to know that it doesn't need to show brutal or explicit offence to get the message across that racism is bad. Yes racism is bad, but worse, racism at the time was the norm. The repeated incidents of disrespect and subtle degradation become standard. I found this a great way to wear the audience down. As when the straw finally broke the camel's back you got it. The emotionally charged scenes and outbursts felt justified. It felt like we all got there together. You understood and agreed with all three women. The racial tension is a strong backbone for the film and is not missed but it is not the whole story. The story is about the women.

My favourite character, and I find it odd saying character when it's a real life woman, but my favourite character is played by Taraji P Henson. Katherine G. Johnson is the woman in question that was the 'computer', an intelligent mathematician that joins the team responsible for America's first manned space flight Project Mercury. It is debatable that she has the most development over the course of the film, across all bets. Her career, her family life and her self confidence all improve. Granted at times it felt her love life appeared to advance a little quick and easy. But hey, the real Mr and Mrs Johnson have been married over 50 years so what do I know. With three powerful ladies it's hard to give all three equal character backstories. Which is why I couldn't tell you much about Octavia Spencer's character outside of work. Though Spencer's portrayal of Dorothy Vaughan earned her a best supporting actress Oscar nomination, because of course it did. To be honest there's not much to say about Spencer, if you've seen her in anything then you know what she's like. Her gives characters natural nuances that make you believe they existed before we meet them. Her performance in The Help (2011) was the same. Also she was arguably just as great in a few episodes of Ugly Betty if any of you remember that. She gives Mrs Vaughan a believably permanence. The film would not have the right weight without her.

The whole cast is stellar, it's been nominated for Best Film for a reason. Janelle Monae has done well starring in this as well as another Best Picture contender, Moonlight.  Her character in Hidden Figures, Mary Jackson, embodies progress. She became NASA's first black female engineer. Can you imagine having something you've done be recorded as the first time it's ever happened. Being the first. That's the message she gives, and it resonates. We also get a glimpse into family life with her husband and children, though briefly and granted somewhat unnecessary to the narrative, it does round out how the world is at the time outside of NASA. Now, Monae is a pleasure to watch (partly because of her crazy good skin, what is her regime!?) but because she'd proved that on top of to her own music career and record label she can act (in addition to performing on the soundtrack).

The soundtrack as you might have assumed is great, everything Pharrell Williams touches kinda turns to gold. Yes, some of his songs are overplayed, but that's partly due to their popularity, and you can't always argue with that. The man knows what he's doing, he produced the film, the soundtrack, and was involved with the score... And performed as well... And slayed.

All aspects of sound were made for this film. Really made for it. It all comes together completely as an equal part, everything fits. The music even goes with the cinematography, which was good though I think benefited from the period that it's in. The whole 60's look, the hair, the make up, the home, they all have this warmth to them that contrast the cold greys and blues of the NASA buildings. Clearly no mistake, but that definitely gave Mandy Walker, the director of photography, a lot to work with, and she did well. It definitely did not feel like a film that was over two hours, it handled itself well, and the pacing of the film is great, even though it began to slow towards the final scenes. However, this partly is due to there being no real climax to the film, just some good resolutions. It's a satisfying ending and gives some information and insight to the lives of the women after the story of the film. And I am a sucker for a freeze frame and 'this is where they are now'. So that was an extra point for me.

A happy 7/10. Great cast great story, and space is cool. Would not buy it on Blu ray but would recommend the soundtrack.

CINEMATES - A