A
fairy tale for adults so you should leave the kids at home unless you want to
explain to them what Sally Hawkins is doing in the bathtub and why is Michael
Shannon lying bare ass on top of his wife. I would also give a warning to cat
lovers and violence and gore haters, this is after all a Guillermo del Toro
film.
Set in a dank Baltimore
at the height of the cold war circa 1962 this tale of a lost princess of sorts
concerns a mute young woman who is a badly treated cleaning woman at a vast and
creepy scientific facility who tolls away on the night shift along side her
co-cleaner and close friend the darling Octavia Spencer. The place is run by a
towering pile of evil and misdeed Michael Shannon who is in danger of forever
being cast as kings of meanness if he’s not careful but still he is fun to
watch as he goes about his nasty deeds.
Into this cold wet
and forbidding center of secrets and fear comes a creature brought back from
not a black lagoon but a Technicolor one, and all of the problems that meet and
greet our little Eliza begin with this fabulous creature. There are all sorts
of nasties hanging and running around including a Russian spy and his cold war
cohorts who fit snugly into a rusty tin of stereotypical cookies. Eliza lives
above a falling down but beautiful movie palace in a crummy loft like space
along with her best friend who lives next door and is an old but still
struggling commercial artist who happens to be gay and has his own problems
including making a living doing illustrations for ads just when the industry is
changing over from art to photography.
This part is beautifully
rendered by the great Richard Jenkins who pretty much steals every scene he’s
in which is not a easy task considering who he’s acting with.
The plot line about commercial art is a nice
touch among many including a vivid feel for the period with all the commercial
products and services in place including a beautiful array of vintage shiny
cars, black and white television programs and perfect attire. Del Toro wears
his heart and soul on his sleeve along with his vast and affectionate knowledge
and love of old movies, pulp fiction especially of the sci-fi kind, toys and games.
He is also political
and always finds ways to bring his liberal leanings into his films, and “Water
is no exception. There are side trips to racism and homophobia along with
sexual workplace harassment that is presented to us in the movie before it had
become one of the main topics of discussion in the media and everywhere else
and serves to show us how it has always been with us.
But this is a love
story above all else and the side bars of vast conspiracies, the
military-industrial
complex, racial and
sexual injustices take a back seat to the odd and unusual love story between
Hawkins and the “creature”. For most of this strange and lovely film I was
enchanted and moved even though it slows down towards the end with somewhat
expected twists, turns and comeuppances.
A special nod must be given to the marvelous Sally Hawkins who delivers
a wonderful almost pantomime performance that is nuanced and one might say
choreographed and she is as usual a marvel to watch.
For most of its running time, Wind River
which I watched last night is a tough and pretty good murder mystery
that is set in God's country Wyoming. It begins with a young girl
running for her life in the snow and we soon learn that she is a native
American and how and why she was running for her life is the basis of
the story. Set mainly on a Native American reservation the film stars
Jeremy Renner (wonderful as usual) as a tracker with the Fish
and Wildlife Service who was once married to a beautiful Native
American woman, but are now divorced. A great loss hangs over their life
and somewhat mirrors the death of the young girl we meet at the
beginning of the film. Into the movie comes a green FBI agent played
beautifully by Elizabeth Olsen who is quickly becoming one of my
favorite young actresses. Olsen is lost and not yet found and depends on
Renner to help her with this case. This is the perfect film to watch
during this cold rush and although I felt somewhat let down by the last
part of the movie I can still say cuddle up for a good and fast thriller
that is violent, nasty and disturbing here and there, so be warned.
Directed and written by Taylor Sheridan known as a screenwriter who
wrote last years Hell or High Water and who makes his directorial debut
with this film, he has a good eye and ear for movement and dialogue.
