Passionate Economist: How Brian Abel-Smith Shaped Global Health and Social Welfare
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Brian Abel-Smith was one of the most influential expert advisers of the 20th century in shaping...
The Great Parade: Broadway's Astonishing, Never-to-be-Forgotten 1963-1964 Season
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It was the Broadway season when Barbra Streisand demanded "Don't Rain on My Parade" and Carol...
The Thing About Work: Showing Up and Other Important Matters [A Worker's Manual]
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* Why does a CEO who has already made hundreds of millions of dollars continue to work? * Why does a...
Easy Receipt - Fast Receipt Logger
Finance and Productivity
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* New re-built app! * Completely redesigned and re-imagined Easy Receipt is a fantastic way to get...
Chris Stein/Negative: Me, Blondie and the Advent of Punk
Glenn O'Brien, Deborah Harry and Shepard Fairey
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For the duration of the 1970s - from his days as a student at the School of Visual Arts through the...
The Complete Collection
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This volume collects the complete writings of Henry James: 23 novels, 112 stories and novellas, 12...
The Steel Remains
Book
Ringil, the hero of the bloody slaughter at Gallows Gap is a legend to all who don't know him and a...
The Animator’s Survival Kit
Reference and Education
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World-renowned animator and triple-Oscar-winner Richard Williams presents ‘The Animator’s...
Lee (2222 KP) rated The Shape of Water (2017) in Movies
Feb 8, 2018
Sally Hawkins plays Elisa Esposito, a mute woman who works nights as a janitor for Occam Aerospace Research Center along with friend Zelda Fuller (Octavia Spencer). At home she lives a simple life, watching musicals with her gay neighbour Giles (Richard Jenkins) and finding joy in the simple things in life. One day a strange creature is brought into the research center to be studied, surrounded by military and medical personnel. Colonel Richard Strickland has accompanied 'the asset' from it's previous location, and appears to have developed a serious dislike to it. He carries an electrified cattle prod, which he takes great delight in using on the creature. In return though, the creature does manage to remove two of Stricklands fingers, and also inflicts serious injuries on others.
But Elisa takes pity on the creature and over time tries to befriend it, bringing him hard-boiled eggs and teaching him sign language. When she learns that plans for the creature involve vivisection, she hatches a plan to help him escape, and from that point their feelings for each other develop into love. A true Beauty and the Beast style fairy tale.
I found myself absolutely captivated, swept along by the story, and everything about it is just beautiful. Sally Hawkins is incredible, portraying such varied emotions without speaking, she provides much of the films humour, and shines in the more serious scenes too. Doug Jones does what he does best as the creature, but the real monster of the movie is Michael Shannon as Colonel Strickland. Terrifyingly brilliant.
For me, I'm not sure if this beats Pan's Labyrinth, but The Shape of Water is certainly worthy of all the praise, and hopefully the awards, it receives.
Some Enchanted Evenings
Book
Mary Martin was one of the greatest stars of her day. Growing up in Texas, she was married early to...