what to read if you loved the shape of water

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Credit... Diplomatic mission Pictures, via Everett Drove; Universal Pictures; Miramax Zoe

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Guillermo del Toro isn't just one of our almost imaginative and innovative filmmakers; he's also an enthusiastic picture show historian and collector, and then his films often part as both absorbing narratives and carefully curated exhibitions. His latest, "The Shape of Water," which only earned xiii Oscar nominations (the most of whatsoever picture show this year), including nods for all-time motion-picture show and director, is no exception. A lush and emblematic motion picture, it tells a story both classic and strange, about a mute cleaning woman in the 1950s who falls in beloved with a merman kept captive by the Us government.

Beloved it as much as the University clearly does? Below are some of the likely influences we found floating around in "Shape," which is favored by many to win the Academy Accolade for best picture. Check these out for context before the ceremony airs on March 4. All seven are bang-up, and they're all streaming.

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'The Animal From the Black Lagoon'
Where to watch: Starz, Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, YouTube, Vudu
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The nigh obvious influence on "The Shape of H2o" is this 1954 monster motion picture (originally released in 3D), from which del Toro seems to borrow heaviest in creating the look of his aquatic monster — which his characters call the Asset (Doug Jones). Advances in technology let him to add a few notable bells and whistles, including moving gills and lights under his merman's pare, but the basic shape and face of the Asset is unmistakably close to the Gill Man'due south from "Black Lagoon." (The filmmaker said this about the Gill Man: "I tin simply tell you I drew that monster all my childhood. It's the most beautiful monster, ane of the summit iii always made.") "Brute" besides contains the seeds for the chief conflict in del Toro's film: the question of whether to preserve and study the aquatic creature (in the interest of scientific discipline), or kill it (in the involvement of prophylactic and survival).

'Swamp Thing'
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Similar "Water," Wes Craven's 1982 adaptation of the "Swamp Thing" series from DC Comics gives u.s.a. authorities scientists working on summit-hush-hush projects, a beast from the deep, the beautiful woman who loves him and a winking sense of homage and self-awareness. It'southward also an awfully good monster picture, for which Craven eschews the grisly tone of some of his better-known efforts, similar "The Last House on the Left" and "Nightmare on Elm Street," and instead embraces the artless, gee-whiz enthusiasm of the '50s comic books that inspired it.

'Beauty and the Animal' ('La Belle et la Bête')
Where to watch: FilmStruck, Amazon, iTunes
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The basic story of "Beauty and the Beast"— a romance between a captivating young woman and a creature who is as monstrous on the outside as he is warm and loving within — is ubiquitous enough to be about its own subgenre, and "The Shape of Water" certainly falls within it. The original tale has inspired adaptations ranging from a CBS television serial to a Disney drawing musical (and live-action remake), simply the version closest to "Water" is certainly Jean Cocteau's version, released in France in 1946: The two films share a fondness for visual metaphors; a dreamy score; a sense of spectacle; and almost of all, an awareness that not all fairy tales are for children.

' Amélie '
Where to watch: Filmstruck, Amazon, Hulu, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube
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In its playful tone, its greenish-hued cinematography and production design, and even in the physical appearance of its leading lady, "The Shape of Water" frequently recalls this whimsical 2001 smash from Jean-Pierre Jeunet. In information technology, a big-hearted but lonely young adult female entertains herself by improving the lives of others through random acts of kindness and carefully engineered moments of happiness — and ultimately, charmingly, stumbles into a romance of her own. Like "H2o," it is frail and nimble, with just a breath of melancholy below its sparkling surfaces.

In an interview with The Playlist, del Toro divulges that he wrote the part of Giles, the closeted gay artist and all-time friend of the heroine, Elisa, for Ian McKellen — and was inspired to exercise so by McKellen's performance as the filmmaker James Whale in this 1998 drama from writer-director Beak Condon. Whale directed two of cinema's most iconic horror movies, "Frankenstein" and "Bride of Frankenstein," simply found himself unemployable in his later years, when he grew tired of hiding his sexuality. Giles, as played in "The Shape of Water" by Richard Jenkins, suffers a like fate; like McKellen in "Gods and Monsters," Jenkins crafts an indelible performance that beautifully captures the frustrations of wanting to exist oneself yet existence stifled by the mores of one'south era.

'Starman'
Where to watch: Amazon, iTunes, Get-go, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube
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Del Toro has made no underground of his affection for John Carpenter, the director of many classics in the horror ("Halloween") and action ("Escape From New York") genres. In ane of his softer moods, Carpenter also directed this wonderful 1984 science-fiction romance, in which an alien visitor (who takes on the humanoid course of Jeff Bridges) visits our planet in response to the invitation from the Voyager 2 probe, and falls in something like honey with the kind widow who becomes his guide (Karen Allen). The result is sweet and funny, but it is likewise imbued with a genuine sense of danger and high stakes.

'The Story of Ruth'
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In "The Shape of Water," Elisa (Sally Hawkins) and Giles (Richard Jenkins) live above a classic movie theater, and throughout the film, that theater is running a double feature of the 1958 Pat Boone musical "Mardi Gras" and this 1960 biblical adaptation from director Henry Koster. "The Story of Ruth" is based upon the Book of Ruth, in which a young widow bonds herself to the mother of her departed husband; the about famous poesy has the adult female imploring her female parent-in-police not to sever their familial tie, insisting, "Where yous go I volition go, and where you lodge I will lodge" — a sentiment that reverberates throughout this gentle, yet seemingly impossible, dear story.

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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/12/watching/the-shape-of-water-influences.html

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