Guillermo del Toro’s latest is interesting to watch because every actor seems to be in a different movie. There’s Octavia Spencer’s kooky workplace comedy, Michael Stuhlbarg’s Cold War spy thriller, and Michael Shannon’s sci-fi action movie. The threads are all held together by Sally Hawkins as a mute cleaning woman who falls in love by offering her eggs to an amphibious monster. She lives above a movie theater with her benevolent gay neighbor (Trinity Rep alum Richard Jenkins). It’s an impeccable looking movie about how great movies are – it reminded me a lot of Holy Motors – so it’s probably not surprising that Hollywood awards types are fawning over it.
The Shape of Water is currently playing at Avon Cinema, Cinemaworld Lincoln, Showcase Seekonk, and Showcase Warwick