10 Unforgettable 2017 Movie Scenes
4. Singing & Dancing - The Shape Of Water
Guillermo Del Toro has an incredible talent for pastiche. And that's really what The Shape of Water is - a gorgeous melting pot of B-movies, classic cinema, artwork, and authentic historical set dressing. Picking a single scene from this film is a challenge, but there's one in which Del Toro's classical influences take over the film for a few minutes, and it is glorious. And no, it is not the fish sex scene.
If you've seen the film, you know the scene. The mute janitor Elisa is having dinner with her new fish-man boyfriend, and the lights start to dim. A dream sequence takes over, and she finds herself singing and dancing with the creature in a scene from one of her favorite black & white musicals. It makes perfect sense - she yearns to be able to communicate easily the Fish Man, and this scene perfectly captures her longing without overstaying its welcome.
In a way, this scene is a microcosm of the whole film: Peculiar, yet utterly unique. And seeing the creature from the Black Lagoon imitate Fred Astaire is an image that no other filmmaker could have made possible. This scene could have been a gag, but winds up being one of the most sincere moments in this improbably beautiful love story.