Guillermo del Toro's THE SHAPE OF WATER proves his richest, most successful film to date

Taking you places that movies seldom manage while creating a tightly-focused universe of dark enchantment based clearly on the kind of world in which we're forever stuck, Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (shown below) has, with THE SHAPE OF WATER, graced us with his (so far) masterpiece.

Ever more so than Pan's Labyrynth, which demanded at least some knowledge of Spain's history and the Spanish Civil War to bring its several strands together, del Toro's newest work asks that you remember or maybe just have a nodding acquaintance with The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Even if you don't recall that "landmark" monster movie, you still should not have any real trouble understanding the theme, plot and raison d'être of this exceptional love story/fantasy that is filled to its brim with "outsiders" of every sort.

In the film's most striking and yet most subtle note, even the movie's premiere villain -- played to the hilt by Michael Shannon (above), the only actor we have today who could easily replace the late, great Boris Karloff -- is himself one of these outsiders, incapable of experiencing or feeling emotions like love and caring, yet unable to even understand what this lack means to his own place in the world. (The other outsiders here all very well know their lack and their place.)

Señor del Toro addresses the place and plight of our GLBT community, our people of color and our handicapped simply and gracefully via his movie's main characters. The gracious and comforting Octavia Spencer (above) plays one of the two janitorial staff with whom we bond at the government-sponsored "research" facility to which our creature, found in the Amazon, has been brought for "study."

The other worker is played by our main character, Elisa, a young woman who has had her vocal chords cut as a child and is now mute, played by the great Sally Hawkins (above). As with Rachel Brosnahan in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, I can't think of another actress who could bring all that Ms Hawkins does to this role: an inner beauty that simply glows, steely strength when required, and an openness that captivates and charms.

Another wonderful actor who possesses extraordinary subtlety and empathy, Richard Jenkins (above), plays Elisa's friend and neighbor, Giles, a gay illustrator/artist in a time in America -- the 1960s -- when the closet was still the best option. These three unite to save our creature, who is in peril of its life, and the movie's wonderful message of tolerance and love for and by not just humans but any living species is brought home as seamlessly, beautifully and cinematically as just about any in movie history.

In addition to Shannon's villainous character, we meet another scientist, played by ubiquitous and always wonderful Michael Stuhlbarg (above and also currently to be seen in Call Me By Your Name and The Post). TrustMovies would say the the film's ace-in-the-hole, performance- and character-wise would be the depiction of its creature, brought to life by actor Doug Jones (below, and oft-used by del Toro) and his incredible make-up or maybe CGI-effects, This is indeed a stunning achievement, but then all the characters and characterizations here are so good that literally no one stands out above any other.

While the plot of The Shape of Water is pretty simple -- rather typical, really -- the film is brought to fierce and gorgeous life by del Toro's wondrous imagination.

That imagination has been hugely abetted by that fine cinematographer Dan Laustsen (Crimson Peak, Brotherhood of the Wolf, and the gorgeous and engrossing Danish TV series 1864), production designer (Paul D. Austerberry), art director (Nigel Churcher) and set decorators Jeffrey A. Melvin and Shane Vieau, all of whom, save Vieau, have worked with del Toro previously.

There are only around a half dozen locations used repeatedly in the film, but all of these -- from Elisa and Giles' facing apartments (hers is shown above) to the science laboratory (two photos up) to the giant old-fashioned movie theater (below) located just below the apartments -- are brought to such amazing, beautiful, darkly noir-ish life that they will probably remain in your mind and imagination for good.

In all, The Shape of Water comes together to form something we almost never see: a kind of mainstream blockbuster, a moving work of art, and a film that manages to show us just about everything that a single motion picture can achieve.

From Fox Searchlight and running 123 minutes, the film is playing all over the country at this point. Click here to find the theater(s) nearest you.

Simo Halinen's OPEN UP TO ME: the "transgender" film hits its high mark (so far)

Today's western world mostly concerns celebrity, schlock and marketing, right? How else to justify the media time spent on the execrable Bruce-Jenner-becomes-Caitlyn story, worth maybe two minutes of time now stretched to weeks  -- with no end in sight. Boy, those Kardashians sure know how to market, if little else, bringing to mind the old saw about understanding the price of everything and the value of nothing.

And don't tell me the story is so vital and important to the transgender cause. If Jenner were not a semi-celebrity being marketed by a Kardashian, few would give a shit. Instead, we have folk fawning on his/her every breath, as though it mattered more than the breath of any others of us. Laverne Cox -- to mention the other currently "famous" sex change -- has brought a lot of talent and pizzazz to Netflix's Orange/Black series. But Jenner? Nothing more than the need to cling as long as possible to some fractured fame.

The above angry screed is all by way of introducing you to a worthwhile new movie: the best I've so far seen involving transgender (better, even, than Boy Meets Girl, a film I liked very much). Written and directed by Simo Halinen (shown two photos above), OPEN UP TO ME (Kerron sinulle kaiken is the original Finnish language title) tracks the tale of Maarit (the very fine Leea Klemola, just above), a relatively recent man-to-woman transition trying against rather heavy odds to make something of her new life.

To that end, Maarit has had to leave behind a wife and daughter (the former has seen to it that he/she cannot visit the latter) and must labor in the vineyards of the cleaning crews who polish the fixtures in corporate and or professional building bathrooms. One day, thanks to a clever coincidence involving wardrobe and dress-up, a sad-but-hunky psychiatrist's client (Peter Franzén, below) with marital trouble mistakes Maarit for a shrink, and plot begins to bloom.

Soon we (and Maarit) are involved with the hot-looking Sami, his wife (Ria Kataja, below) and daughter -- even as Maarit's life is expanding to include not only an incipient affair with Sami but the opportunity to finally

reconnect with her/his daughter (a sweet, smart performance from new-comer Emmi Nivala, below) and at last involve the girl in his/her new life.

Simultaneously, we meet one of Sami's students whom he coaches in soccer (Alex Anton, below), a young man who proves both bright and quite interested in learning from experience -- which would include as many varied sexual experiences as he can muster.

While the relationship between Maarit and Sami is the major force at work here, the movie's greatest strength comes from its deeper look into the characters on view, together with how something as radical and different as a sex change can make adjustment more than a little difficult for those confined to what can only be called the "normal" camp.

As much as the audience might want love to bloom and prosper, the filmmaker is too wise and realistic to make things simple for his characters. Halinen may use coincidence as an occasional plot device, but when it comes to behavior, he takes his lessons from life rather than from easy fiction.

By the film's conclusion, a number of situations have changed and characters grown and/or come to terms with their inability to grow. Either way, they and we have learned something and in the process quite enjoyed the experience. (The movie's last line is a delight: sharp, moving and very funny.) From Corinth Films and running a swift 95 minutes, Open Up to Me becomes available on DVD this Tuesday, July 7.