The Shape of Water

I saw this movie today and enjoyed it. It's my first time watching a Guillermo del Toro film, though I've heard about his reputation for years. This is a lovely fantasy romance drama, with great performances. Elisa's friends are interesting characters, and even the scientist guy has his own motivations for helping to free the creature, known as the Asset. There are some bloody, somewhat gruesome moments, particularly about the villain Strickland's fingers that were bitten off, and the cattle prod that he uses to viciously torture people. But overall, the movie is sweet and full of kindness. Elisa and her gay neighbor often watch old Hollywood movies together, and in one scene she imagines herself starring in a movie musical with her amphibious beloved. Very nice sort of fairy tale.

One of the trailers before Shape of Water was for Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs a stop motion animation pic due next year. I'm not sure if I will see it or not. Recently I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel which I did like. I've gotten used to Anderson's quirky style, but this one was a zany, somewhat frenetic tale of murder, theft, and prison escape, mixed with the beginning of war. The story is framed as a book that a young girl reads, then the Author telling the tale, then Jude Law as the young Author hearing the tale from an old Zero Mustafa about his mentor the hotel concierge Monsieur Gustave. Like in Anderson's other films, there's a lot of nostalgia for an old world that's gone, and apparently Anderson based it on the writings of Stefan Zweig from that era. Lots of quoting from poetry, lots of refinement and elegance, but also a dark underbelly. Anderson fooled me into thinking that Agatha was going to get assassinated by that henchman Jopling, but no, her eventual death was unrelated to the adventures in the movie. Coincidentally, there are also severed fingers in The Grand Budapest Hotel. I wish there had been more Jude Law in it.