I had to
get a reassurance from another interpreter before I could see this movie, but
I’m glad I did. While the signing is
super stilted (more on that later,) the film itself is gorgeous. I really loved it and am happy I felt able to
see it.
At the
height of the Cold War, a government facility in Baltimore acquires a
mysterious “asset,” an amphibious man discovered in South America. While the facilitiy’s scientists study the
creature (and the sadistic head of the project tortures him,) one of the
cleaners, a kind mute woman named Elisa, finds herself drawn to him. She relates to his loneliness and begins
teaching him sign language to communicate with him. But to the facility, he’s just a thing, a
possible means of getting a jump on the Soviets, and so Elisa begins coming up
with a plan to break him out.
First, I
have to give a huge shoutout to the production design. The sets are uniformly amazing (I especially
love the side-by-side apartments of Elisa and her best friend Giles,) and the
prosthetic work on the amphibious man looks great. Add in lovely music and excellent
cinematography, and you get a movie that looks and sounds stunning.
Even
better, it’s backed up by a good story.
I see a lot of similarities with Pan’s
Labyrinth, a dark fairy tale set against the backdrop of an even darker
real world (in this case, the paranoia/mistrust of the Cold War and the glossy
sheen of Americana juxtaposed with ableism, sexism, homophobia, and
racism.) Both films involve fantastical
creatures that can cause a lot of harm if they choose, but in both instances,
the “real monster” is a human. The love
story is darkly whimsical, yet also beautiful and grounded in a lot of honest
emotion, and there are a number of rich friendship scenes that make me feel
very warm and fuzzy.
The
characters and the acting are all wonderful.
I like Octavia Spencer’s pragmatic but caring Zelda, although, while
Spencer does fine work, the character herself seems a bit lightweight for a
supporting actress nomination – Zelda doesn’t offer a whole lot for Spencer to
sink her teeth into. But on the
supporting actor side, I love Richard Jenkins as Giles, very nice, pretty
insecure, and a sweet friend. I’ve
appreciated him since The Visitor,
and he’s fantastic here – Giles’s scenes with Elisa are some of my favorites in
the film. (Side note: I also like that Giles being gay is
understated without being underwritten;
while the film never specifically says it, there’s no doubt that that’s what’s
going on.) Michael Shannon (as
Strickland, the vile guy heading the project) and Michael Stuhlbarg (as Dr.
Hoffstetler, the conflicted lead scientist) do great work as well, and Doug
Jones is very effective as the amphibious man.
Then, we
have Sally Hawkins as Elisa. I maintain
that, even though Elisa is hearing, they should have gotten a native signer for
the role. There’s not enough signing in
the movie for it to really bug me – most of the time, Elisa just listens to
other people talk and gives one- or two-word replies – but any time she has to
do a full sentence or more, it’s ridiculously
choppy and stilted. To be fair, there
are other characters in the movie who speak Russian, and I would imagine the
same is true for them. However, I don’t
notice it there, but I can’t not
notice it with Elisa. Signing aside,
though, Hawkins is very good – wonderfully expressive, and she does a nice job
selling the connection Elisa feels with the amphibious man.
Warnings
Strong
violence, language, sexual content, smoking/drinking, and strong thematic
elements.
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