The Shape Of Water LFF Review: 8 Ups & 2 Downs

Del Toro's best work in over a decade.

The Shape Of Water Sally Hawkins
Fox Searchlight

Fresh off its recent Golden Lion win at the Venice Film Festival, Guillermo del Toro's near-universally acclaimed sci-fi fantasy romance The Shape of Water has become one of the hottest tickets of this year's awards circuit.

Awards hype is mounting around the film as it currently tours the London Film Festival, and while it's virtually unheard of for a film of this type to get much Oscar love, it's important to remember that del Toro's fantastic own Pan's Labyrinth scooped three Academy Awards back in 2007. If anyone can pull it off, it's him.

We've seen The Shape of Water, and though it doesn't hit US cinemas until December 8th (and, insanely, February 16th next year for UK audiences), it's safe to say that it's going to land on a lot of critical best-of lists, for the insane skill of its craft and the cast's excellent array of performances...

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.