The Shape of Water!

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Dee71
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The Shape of Water!

Post by Dee71 »

Have any of you seen the film yet? I absolutely loved it. But I'm also really biased because I love anything that Guillermo del Toro puts out, even Pacific Rim (which is basically just an American adaptation of any Gundam anime, in my opinion).

I hadn't known that there was a novelization of it prior to seeing the film. I only learned about it in an article posted to io9gizmodo. I haven't read the novel by Daniel Kraus yet, but it was interesting to learn that both del Toro and Kraus worked almost in tandem with one another as both film and novel developed. And how Kraus eventually reached a point where he stopped correspondence with del Toro in order to separate his ideas and influences from the filmmaker's to create two different experiences.

What do you guys think?
I can't post the link, but if you go to io9gizmodo and search "The Shape of Water," the article should be at the top titled The Shape of Water Novelization Does Much, Much More Than Adapt the Movie.
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Libs_Books
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Post by Libs_Books »

I thought it was an amazing film - so thanks for drawing my attention to the novel. The last Guillermo del Toro film I saw was Pan's Labyrinth and this struck me as having a similar theme in many ways.
tvess
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Post by tvess »

The Shape of Water was wonderful. I always love Guillermo's cinematography, he makes a great use of colors and style. Thanks for mentioning the novel, though. One more thing to add to the to-read list, aha.
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FilmStar
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Post by FilmStar »

I honestly didn't care much for the movie. I thought the set design, acting, and music was really good but I was turned off with the fact that *spoilers* Elisa and the sea creature have sex. It just felt perverted to me. I mean, at least in Beauty and the Beast, they were able to keep it G-rated. That's like saying you love a horse and plan on having sex with a horse. I just wish they could have left that part out. I wish that Get Out or Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri won Best Picture instead.
Dee71
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Post by Dee71 »

Guillermo del Toro's style is really distinct, and carries on through most of his films. Magical Realism mixed with mythology and dark fantasy. Fantastic!
And he definitely loves his Fish Men, as seen with Abe Sapien in the Hellboy films. Haha. Of course, that character is Mike Mignola's creation.

In response to FilmStar, you're right, that part of the film is definitely not for everyone. I was surprised with how much the film utilized sex and/or sexual scenes in general. I wasn't expecting it at all, but I think it was handled well. The parallelism between Eliza and the Fish Man was the entire story. So I think it'll be interesting to see if the novel expands on those types of scenes or if it was del Toro's own intent to include them. I'll have to read and see!
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Camille Turner
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Post by Camille Turner »

Oh I can't wait to read the novel! I didn't know it was a book before and I haven't even gotten to see the movie yet (I live in Colombia so it is hard to track down films here). But, when I saw the trailer, I was completely hooked and have been dying to see it ever since. Maybe I'll read the book first!
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angiebluebird
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Post by angiebluebird »

I found the novel riveting but found the film quite a disappointment. There were such great opportunities for special effects and thought they let me down in that area. However, they told the story quite well. The characters seemed as actual as the book.
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adewunmi22kush
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Post by adewunmi22kush »

Yea the movie is a great one, it simply explains how a dump human being could communicate with an alien and it also implies that not all alien are bad you only try to bring out the good out of them just like Elisa did.
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Lenifty02
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Post by Lenifty02 »

In all honesty, I think the movie was a disaster. I remember seeing the trailer and having so much anticipation for it. Sadly, when I finally saw it, it was a whole different story entirely. It was really hard to get the actual story behind the movie. I get it that the human fell in love with the alien because they had a connection and could communicate somehow. However, I really don't think that was basis enough to get into the "deed" with an alien. #spoilers.

Also most things about the movie were vague. There were so many loopholes. Lots of unanswered questions like where the creature came from? How the lady became dumb? It was said at some point she'd been dumb since birth but she also had a slash on her neck. This made me believe the creature or perhaps some other of its kind had something to do with her getting dumb.

The movie was a complete off from the book
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kjs237
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Post by kjs237 »

I thought this movie was wonderful because it was truly different from everything else that was out at the time. It didn't make a difference to me that it was an Oscar nomination when I saw it. There were no other nominees that I was even interested in seeing so I'm not sure how this film compared to them. I wasn't aware that there is a book as well so now I need to track that down and see which version is better.
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dtb
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Post by dtb »

It was a lovely story. The part where Elisa said that she felt seen for who she was and not for being "incomplete" still tugs at my heartstrings. She was a compelling heroine because she had to save him and herself too.
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mwaih
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Post by mwaih »

Wonderful movie, I love it! Sally Hawkins is great! And Octavia Spencer tool
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Post by chipmunck »

I did enjoy the movie but felt awkward during the sex parts. Overall I thought the movie was good. I find it interesting that the book and movie were created at the same time but with different directions. I'm curious how much they are the same.
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jessicawallace6
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Post by jessicawallace6 »

I get emotional just thinking about it. I loved the movie so much. I felt it spoke so deeply to the nature of love, and the nature of trust. It's easy to take the movie at face value, I'm sure, and see it as a woman dating a fish, but if we take every piece of media we consume at face value without asking what it means, what it wants to say, what's the point of watching or reading anything?

Now you have me curious to read the novelization!
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Mely918
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Post by Mely918 »

I had no idea there was a novel! I will make sure to go check that out! As for the movie, I may be biased to, as I have been a fan of Guillermo del Toro ever since I saw Pan's Labyrinth. I think Shape of Water is truly one of best motion pictures out there. It has a beautiful story, a great moral, amazing score, and wonderful characters. Truly a great piece of art.
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