Del Toro and his visual team paint in an infinite palette of green shades, from soothing aquamarine to the harsh oxide tones of mid-century institutional buildings from the neon garishness of a gelatin parfait to the gleaming metallic teal of a brand new Cadillac. While blood red, unsurprisingly, was the dominant hue of Crimson Peak, The Shape of Water also takes its defining color cue from its title. Those nods inject notes of playful humor and fantasy that expand our responses to the story and characters, rather than merely dabbling in pastiche. Del Toro plays free and easy with the ’60s setting by referencing not only 1950s horror but also movie musicals of the ’30s and ’40s, classic noir and even Cinemascope biblical epics. The iconic image used here of an amphibious humanoid cradling an unconscious woman is a direct homage to The Creature From the Black Lagoon. The new picture, by contrast, applies Paul Denham Austerberry’s dazzling production design and Dan Laustsen’s graceful cinematography to a poignant story in which good and evil are represented in richly drawn figures played by a first-rate principal cast.

The extravagant design elements and overburdened plotting of the 2015 feature tended to smother much of the story’s genuine emotion, pointing up the shortage of depth in flat characters that invited too little lasting investment. Following Crimson Peak, The Shape of Water shows signs of del Toro having taken on board the criticisms widely leveled at that lush gothic horror-melodrama.

David hewlett the shape of water