‘The Shape of Water’ picks up the Best Director & Best Picture Oscars
March 5, 2018
Best Picture: The Shape of Water
Best Director: Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water
Guillermo del Toro picked up the Oscar for Best Director for The Shape of Water, because that was the only way to retroactively give him an Oscar for Pan’s Labyrinth. The Shape of Water also picked up Best Picture, which… I mean, at least it wasn’t Three Billboards, right?
I saw The Shape of Water weeks ago and I wasn’t really feeling it, but I respect del Toro and his career, and I’m fine with thinking that they gave him the Oscar more for his body of work than for this particular film. The Shape of Water is a technical marvel – everything is very DAMP and WATERY all the time, there are some crazy special effects and more. Mostly, I think my problem was with the script more than the direction, so I’m glad Jordan Peele & James Ivory won the Screenplay awards and not del Toro.
Do you think people will regret giving this film the Best Picture Oscar a few years from now? I think they might. It’s not like this was a weak Best Picture field, and people felt passionately about Get Out, Lady Bird and Call Me By Your Name. My guess is those three films split a lot of ballots and The Shape of Water (and del Toro) became the de facto “consensus” choices. All in all… yeah, I’m glad it wasn’t Three Billboards. That’s the best I can say. Oh, I’ll also say this: it’s nice that yet another Mexican director took home the Oscar! We can’t build a wall, America, we’re getting all of our best directors south of the border.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
