The Shape of Water (2018)
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Ssraeszha Raider
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Trakanon Raider
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Saw it a couple of days ago while in Cali to watch Kevin Smith do a podcast.
I enjoyed it, although I wasn't a huge fan of the final 30 seconds of the movie. I assumed the ending meant one thing, but after looking at some endings explained type discussions... it was apparently to be taken at face value, which made everything a bit too tidy for me. There was definitely a lot of things that happen in the movie because they NEED to for the plot to advance, despite the fact they were unrealistic to just all fall into place they way they did. I feel like a good way of describing this movie is "What if Amelie and Pans Labyrinth had a baby", a mostly meandering but fantastic looking style of film.
Again, I liked it, but my first thought at the end was that I was glad I went to see it alone, and not with the group of people I was with, because I would guess most of them would have hated it.
A side note (I'm spoilering it, but its very vague and probably not going to effect your viewing, just something in a scene I enjoyed)
I enjoyed it, although I wasn't a huge fan of the final 30 seconds of the movie. I assumed the ending meant one thing, but after looking at some endings explained type discussions... it was apparently to be taken at face value, which made everything a bit too tidy for me. There was definitely a lot of things that happen in the movie because they NEED to for the plot to advance, despite the fact they were unrealistic to just all fall into place they way they did. I feel like a good way of describing this movie is "What if Amelie and Pans Labyrinth had a baby", a mostly meandering but fantastic looking style of film.
Again, I liked it, but my first thought at the end was that I was glad I went to see it alone, and not with the group of people I was with, because I would guess most of them would have hated it.
A side note (I'm spoilering it, but its very vague and probably not going to effect your viewing, just something in a scene I enjoyed)
One scene I really enjoyed was when when of the characters goes to use the restroom. He washes his hands, takes a piss, and goes to walk out. One of the other characters points out that he's forgetting to wash his hands, to which he responds something to the effect of "I've already washed my hands, washing them again would be a show of weakness. You can tell a lot about about man by when he washes his hands." Which I enjoyed, as I personally tend to wash my hands before I touch my dick, but I didn't really get what the character was saying until I thought about it later. By washing your hands before you touch yourself, you're showing that its the world that's dirty, not you, you're washing the grime of everything else off before you touch yourself. If you wash after, you are acknowledging that you are unclean. If you wash both times, it implies you can't piss without getting it on your hands, possibly showing incompetence. That's what I took from it anyway, but I thought that was a really interesting way of showing that characters frame of mind, who most definitely believed himself to be without sin/clean.
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Trakanon Raider
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And now that I'm sure I understand how to do spoilers.. about that ending, this will potentially ruin the movie for you if you haven't seen it!
I assumed that she died. After the creature takes her into the water, we get the narrator talking again, basically saying what he likes to think happened. I assumed we were watching what the narrator choose to believe so that he could be happy and hopeful, for that fairy tale ending. Very similar to tone of the ending of Pans Labyrinth, was it all a fairy tell, or was it real and people are dead?
So, after looking at discussions online, the opening scene of her sleeping, and dreaming of floating underwater, coupled with her masturbating in the tub, the scene of her apparently magic-ing the raindrops on the bus window, her history of being found by a river with slices in her neck... all point to her being a fish person, or possibly a half fish person. That another fish person and a human possibly had a baby, humans found it and stitched its gills up. So, she was a monster too the entire time. And at the end, she heals/he heals her, and the scars over her gills heal as well.. and shes a half breed again.
Which, ok, I mean, that's the fairy tale ending, and yeah, its possible that was the intent. I personally like it better to assume that she died, and we see the fairy tale ending because that's the dreamers ending, not the actual truth that the world is not full of happy endings. I don't know, maybe I like the ending because it can be ambiguous?
So, after looking at discussions online, the opening scene of her sleeping, and dreaming of floating underwater, coupled with her masturbating in the tub, the scene of her apparently magic-ing the raindrops on the bus window, her history of being found by a river with slices in her neck... all point to her being a fish person, or possibly a half fish person. That another fish person and a human possibly had a baby, humans found it and stitched its gills up. So, she was a monster too the entire time. And at the end, she heals/he heals her, and the scars over her gills heal as well.. and shes a half breed again.
Which, ok, I mean, that's the fairy tale ending, and yeah, its possible that was the intent. I personally like it better to assume that she died, and we see the fairy tale ending because that's the dreamers ending, not the actual truth that the world is not full of happy endings. I don't know, maybe I like the ending because it can be ambiguous?
a c i d.f l y
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I thoroughly enjoyed this film. After dealing with Justice League and The Last Jedi, this movie was like a breath of fucking fresh air in movie making. It was a wonderful take on the swamp creature narrative woven into a love story. Even if it was very predictable, Shannon fuckin nailed it, and the rest felt very natural. The happy ending didn't bother me, since the surreal nature of the film as a whole alluded to such. The visuals, characters, subtle backgrounds, even the homosexual themes didn't feel forced, or SJW'ish, which films tend to have a problem with, especially these days. It was all handled very well, even with a mythological creature at its core. Still, Michael Shannon was the standout. Every scene and line he had was virtually perfect.
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spronk
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Pretty good, I went into it expecting to absolutely hate it since I generally don't like artsy movies but this felt very much like a old school fairy tale kinda movie. Lots of great (female) nudity too which didn't hurt. The lead actress and Michael Shannon were both absolutely fantastic. Also being a white dude in the 50s and 60s fucking RULED
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ZyyzYzzy
RIP USA
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Clearly you've never worked in a lab on classified work. You clean your own shit.
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ZyyzYzzy
RIP USA
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chaos
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Ssraeszha Raider
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What if shit gets on the floor in other ways other than directly shitting on it? Seems you could just deny knowing how it got there and exploit a loophole
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Jive Turkey
Karen
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Saw it this afternoon. Great movie that never went overboard in the 3rd act, which seems to be a problem with these kinds of movies normally. As mentioned above, Shannon was awesome. The entire cast was great for that matter. And beautiful set design
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Jive Turkey
Karen
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Miguex
The lad himself
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Just saw it. Absolutely fantastic in virtually every element. Was clearly a Del Toro film but was much less fantastical than every other film of his I have seen (most of them I think) with the exception of the Aqua man, which was oddly almost an exact copy of Abe Sapien from Hellboy, down to the love of eggs. Framing of shots, set design, the way the period it was set in was portrayed (music, wardrobe, even the way people treated each other (racially/work heirarchy) were all extremely well done. Acting was fantastic across the board, especially Sally Hawkins who was absolutely incredible. Such a great job conveying emotion without using any words or sound. I will say that I saw the way the end was going to play out coming from the second act, but it was so perfectly executed I didn't care. Ending poem and shot had everyone near me clearly emotional. Cannot recommend enough.
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spronk
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One theory I really, really liked
The narration is by the old gay dude at the beginning and the end, so he didn't actually SEE what happened to Sally. He is recalling the romanticized version of her finding her true love, him changing her into a sea creature, and them living happily ever after.
Its just as possible he flees to the ocean and Atlantis or wherever he is from and she just drowns, lol
Its just as possible he flees to the ocean and Atlantis or wherever he is from and she just drowns, lol