Crisp Criticism - "The Shape of Water", "Paddington 2", "Professor Marston and the Wonder Women"

by

Julien Faddoul

The Shape of Water *

At a top-secret research facility in Baltimore in the early 1960s, a lonely, mute janitor forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature that is being held in captivity.

Yet another imaginative fable from Del Toro that I found utterly hollow. A sentimental tale on the lack of love for the marginalized – a mute, a closeted gay man, a black woman, a communist, a fish monster – but uses them only as signifiers, with none of these ideas really coming together outside of the director’s sketchbook, as well as his own cinephilia (in particular Creature from the Black Lagoon). Injecting the film with blood and sex doesn’t provide any gravitas either, with each story point culminating in either thematic lip-service or a lack of commitment.

d – Guillermo Del Toro

w – Guillermo Del Toro, Vanessa Taylor

ph – Dan Laustsen

pd – Paul D. Austerberry

m – Alexandre Desplat

ed –Sidney Wolinsky

cos – Luis Sequeira

p – Guillermo Del Toro, J. Miles Dale

Cast: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Lauren Lee Smith, Nick Searcy, David Hewlett

Paddington 2 **

Paddington endeavors to find the perfect gift for Aunt Lucy’s 100^th birthday.

Witty children’s film which, while not as funny as the original, is even more immaculately constructed, with Chaplinesque set-pieces and an exceptional foppish performance from Grant.

d – Paul King

w – Paul King, Simon Farnaby   (Based on the Book by Michael Bond)

ph – Erik Wilson

pd – Gary Williamson

m – Dario Marianelli

ed – Jonathan Amos, Mark Everson

cos – Lindy Hemming

p – David Heyman

Cast: Ben Whishaw, Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonneville, Samuel Joslin, Madeleine Harris, Julie Walters, Hugh Grant, Brendan Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, Imelda Staunton, Michael Gambon, Joanna Lumley

Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman **

The unconventional life of Dr. William Marston – the Harvard psychologist who helped invent the modern lie detector test and created Wonder Woman in 1941 – as well as his brilliant wife and their live-in mistress.

Quite possibly the least ostentatious film about polyamory ever made, but one that probably shouldn’t be taken as total truth. Nevertheless, it approaches sexual relationships with a great deal of acuity and intelligence.

wd – Angela Robinson

ph – Bryce Fortner

pd – Carl Sprague

m – Tom Howe

ed – Jeffrey M. Werner

cos – Donna Maloney

p – Terry Leonard, Amy Redford

Cast: Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, Bella Heathcote, Connie Britton, JJ Field, Chris Conroy, Oliver Platt, Maggie Castle