2018-04-02

The Shape of Water

As a reward for finishing our taxes today we went to see the Oscar-winning "Shape of Water" film.

I probably would have left after 20 minutes, if it had not won all those Oscars. I mean, best film and all, surely something wourd turn for the better.

In my opinion: not. It was trite. Lots of clichés that I didn't find amusing. Woo-hoo 60s science fiction. Continuity errors (light outside while Elisa bathes, but when she is on the bus it is dark). Unnecessary sexual content and violence. The profanity got lost in the German translation, which was very wooden. And come on, in the 60s a starving artist has money for a color TV set?

I was wondering about the sign language, if it was American Sign Language or an adaptation.

One commenter at IMDB has it right: Guillermo Del Toro does "Amelie" meets "Creature from the Black Lagoon."  Octavia Spencer was, as always, stellar, and the cinematography and costuming were well done. But I could have made better use of my time.