Nobody loves monsters like Guillermo del Toro. They appear in the most varied of forms in the director’s films, but one thing unites them all: their creator treats the creatures with an incredible amount of heart. Most of the time, the monsters aren’t the villains in del Toro, but rather we humans who treat the creatures with fear, hatred or violence.
On TV today: Fantasy jewel Shape of Water
A monster is also the focus of Shape of Water, which won the 2018 Oscar for Best Picture. The horror and fantasy elements create a soulful romance like you’ve probably never seen before. Today at 8.15 p.m. the fantasy master is on ProSieben on TV.
That’s what Shape of Water is all about
Guillermo del Toro’s film is set in the 1960s during the Cold War. Here, the mute, reserved Elisa (Sally Hawkins) works as a cleaner in a secret government laboratory. One day she discovers an incredible experiment: In a water tank, a amphibian man (Doug Jones) arrested.
Watch the German trailer for Shape of Water here
Shape Of Water – Trailer (German) HD
After initial fright, Elisa develops great curiosity up to strong feelings for the being who understands them in a way that no human can. However, the military sees the creature as a potential Cold War secret weapon. When Elisa flees with the creature, the hunt begins on both of them.
A mix of horror and romance like Shape of Water can only come from Guillermo del Toro
In addition to monsters, the director almost always devotes himself to people social outsiders, which del Toro also treats with much compassion and understanding. Such a character is Elisa, who is trapped in her routine and palpable loneliness.
When the protagonist and the monster who is also trapped meet, Shape of Water quickly evolves into one tender fairy tales for adults. In addition to seeing del Toro’s version of Beauty and the (Fish Monster) Beast converge and love in scenes never seen before, the film is a grand declaration of love to all the marginalized and overlooked.
Watch a video about the effects in Shape of Water here
The Shape of Water – Featurette VFX Showreel (English) HD
In the imaginative, dreamy story, the director also gives a voice to supporting characters such as homosexual copywriter Giles and Elisa’s African-American colleague Zelda. The Shape of Water, which appeared in the middle of the Trump presidency, thus became a political statement that had to be made in times of increasing rejection and exclusion pleads for more empathetic cohesion Has.
But even as a pure fantasy horror romance, Shape of Water always has Moments to melt away. For example, for the duration of a dreamed moment, del Toro makes Elisa and the monster sing and dance together. The director grows gills when there is no air and completely floods a bathroom with water so that two lovers become one.
Next to it, the water drips through the floorboards into the cinema below, where a spectator who has fallen asleep in an armchair is woken up to return captivated by the cinema to become. The imaginative director with the big heart has rarely succeeded in creating a more beautiful sequence.
a notice: We published this article in a similar form when Shape of Water started streaming on Netflix.
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Have you already seen Shape of Water or do you still want to see the film?