Guillermo del Toro called The Shape of Water, which brought him an Oscar for Best Director (as his film won Best Picture), as an expression of the things that filled his worries as an adult especially about love, after in the previous 9 films del Toro visited the dream and her fears as a child. Maybe he was afraid the world was running out of love. The Shape of Water begins del Toro's desire to see the inter-species love story from the Black Lagoon (1954) ending happily, with the intention of making his remake rejected by the studio. And obviously, he told the whole scene with love and tenderness, Love is not just a romantic level, not just a fellow human, but between living things. Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) the female protagonist is a speech woman who becomes a janitor in a secret laboratory owned by the government. Elisa next door to Giles (Richard Jenkins), an old artist whose career is stuck, is also a gay man. Looking at each other's condition, both are entitled to fear if there is no love for them. As a result, when Elisa meets "Amphibian Man" (Doug Jones) who is confined, tortured, made into laboratory experiments where he works, he just wants to love the unfortunate creature who is also alone in this fear.

Taking the setting of the era of the 60s when the Cold War, del Toro with Vanessa Taylor (Hope Springs, Divergent) got plenty of provisions to deliver the message through the script. This is the time when hatred, suspicion, fear, all negative emotions culminate. The narrative of the opening scene when we were brought into the "underwater room" with the beautiful music of Alexandre Desplat-which Jenkins read contained the phrase "And the tale of love and loss, and the monster, who tried to destroy it all". The "monster" here is the abominable colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon) and the bully, American and Russian faction who will use and even kill the Fishman until the racist cafe waiter is homophobic.

Indeed the issues of The Shape of Water are still relevant, but the use of the background is the right decision. Bringing it to the modern order has the potential to create distractions. Audiences who are increasingly thirsty for "critical films" will be inclined to pay attention to the issue rather than the main story. In this way, the various elements become limited to subtext that is enriching, while the main focus remains about the romance of fantasy. Also related to his old background, Desplat music is derived from a classic Hollywood treat; dreamy, thick fantasy nuances that radiate beauty, hope, and imagination. The beauty that comes from the production design team, including in packing home Elisa is like coming from the dark fairy tale world, something that often becomes the playground del Toro, I imagine del Toro pointing at the scene with glittering eyes, big smile, full of positive aura. The poetic opening and closing scenes cannot be produced by a morose man. Of course, he was also awarded the creativity plus high imagination, which proved when musical moments "impromptu" began to fill. The moment that begins and ends with a neat tidy transition to represent the hearts of Elisha, the character that became the media Sally Hawkins shows the meaning of sincerity in acting. Hawkins gives a performance that is able to instantly steal the feelings of the audience only through a smile. When Elisha was happy, I was happy. When Elisha fell in love, that love contributed to my feelings.

For Guillermo del Toro, love is shaped like water. Can not be defined, but its existence always fills the empty spaces, then change to adjust the form of space. We need films like The Shape of Water. Movies that in addition to talking about love, also made with love, without forgetting the importance of the aesthetic side. 

RATING (9/10)

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