Year: 2017
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Despite being adorable, mute woman Elisa (Sally Hawkins) has only two friends: one, a closeted artist who lives next door (above a cinema permanently showing sword-and-sandal epics), and two: a fellow cleaner at the high-security government facility where they both work.
That’s the opening hook right there: this is a film about cleaning ladies at a top-secret government installation, where the newest asset is an amphibious creature captured by an agent played by Michael Shannon. And it’s a great hook. In the trusty hands of the brilliant Guillermo Del Toro it should be a great film. Should.
The problem is his treatment. Billed as Del Toro’s love letter to movies, that’s mainly because of the downstairs cinema and the fact that musicals are always playing on TV and act as a motif throughout. No doubt the 1950s setting is supposed to evoke the golden age of monster movies, or maybe Frank Capra, but in fact it’s nearer to the steampunk whimsy of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and even Scorsese’s ‘Hugo’, meaning that what the film most closely resembles is a mix of ‘Amelie’ and the director’s two ‘Hellboy’ movies. (And given that the creature looks a lot like Abe out of ‘Hellboy’, and is played by Doug Jones, who played Abe in ‘Hellboy’, and the facility looks a lot like an old-timey version of the base in ‘Hellboy’, I’ve wondered whether it’s supposed to function as a kind of ‘Hellboy’ prequel.) The upshot is that although the film looks gorgeous, it feels a little forced and rote, while the more whimsical elements — including an unbelievably corny score — just made my teeth itch.
Then there’s the material, which is best described as thin. I won’t reveal what transpires – The Thing That Happens – but I’m not convinced it’s the dramatic tentpole that the filmmakers (and, to be fair, most critics, awards panels and my wife) think it is. Michael Shannon plays the same baddie he always does, and is strangely dull. What’s more, he and his comedy sidekick are virtually the only representatives of whatever government agency employs them – the base seems to consist just of those two and a bunch of cleaning ladies – which makes you pine for the massed shadowy forces of, say, ‘E.T.’ To me – and again, I’m very much in the minority, given that it currently rates a zillion per cent on Rotten Tomatoes – it all feels a bit botched and poorly thought-through, as though all the imagination-juice was used on production design and there was none left over for story or characters.
Tl;dr: Meh
Might appeal to people who enjoyed:
Little spoonfuls of honey, one after the other.
Just watched it. Me and MrsW thought the same – some deft touches, some deft cinematography and Sally Hawkins is very good indeed. But one of the best films of 2017 – no fucking ( the word of Mrs W) way!!
Absolutely no idea what all the fuss is about, the plot is not only fantastical but just plain silly and all those references to B-Movies and old Musicals are both pretentious and grating.
Go see Three Billboards, Lady Bird, anything.
Amelie was an awful film – cutesy, smug, in love with itself and profoundly irritating. One of the few films I walked out of. And yet it got rave reviews. Certainly made my teeth itch.
I would like to strongly disagree with a of the above.
Like much of Del Toro’s work it is very firmly in the fantasy and fairy tale genre. The voiceover topping and tailing the film is a bit of a cloud to that fact so if you are looking for realism then you are wasting your time.
It’s classic love story told with all the elements of a fantastical fairy tale- monsters, heroes, villains, horror, death, redemption and love conquering all. These aren’t weaknesses or cliche but main building blocks of a genre.
There are some beautiful set pieces and images in the film, obvious but pointed echoes in how the monster is treated a d how 50s society treated part of it community. You may say ‘Well duh’ but those were themes in classic 1950s monster movies.
This is Beauty and the Beast From The Black Lagoon. It’s Grinding Nemo and it may well win Best Picture as it’s not as outwardly worthy and finger pointing. Excellent ensemble cast looks beautiful and sweet rather than sugary.
If you like realism then look elsewhere but I like films that I can escape and wallow in so this suited me just fine
We watched it again cos of everybody telling us how good it is – second time around was a lot better but, honestly, it’s all just a bit silly… now back to the curling where the real story is.
I’m inclined to agree, Lodey.
Saw it last night. It was certainly more raunchy than I was expecting. It didn’t say anything about that on the poster.
Speaking of which, has there ever been another film where the closing shot was the main movie poster?
Hmm. I don’t know about the main poster, but Les Quatre Cents Coups is often represented on DVD covers etc by the closing shot.
The only other one I can think of is Jizz On My Jugs.