The Shape of Water - 13 Nominations

Best Picture, Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale

Actor in a Supporting Role, Richard Jenkins

Actress in a Leading Role, Sally Hawkins

Actress in a Supporting Role, Octavia Spencer

Cinematography, Dan Laustsen

Costume Design, Luis Sequeira

Directing,Guillermo del Toro

Film Editing, Sidney Wolinsky

Music (Original Score), Alexandre Desplat

Production Design, Paul Denham Austerberry (Production Design); Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin (Set Decoration)

Sound Editing, Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira

Sound Mixing, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern and Glen Gauthier

Writing (Original Screenplay), Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor; Story by Guillermo del Toro

Elisa (Sally Hawkins) and Zelda (Octavia Spencer) work in a top secret government facility as members of the maintenance crew, when they are asked to clean a room holding a very important asset - a being who resembles the Creature From the Black Lagoon.  Elisa, a mute, lives a mundane life on repeat, forms a relationship with the creature.  She is the natural choice to be a connector to an aquatic being, because she is not tied to speech in order to build relationship.  It is her disability that makes her superior to those who only know how to communicate through talking.  And what do we learn from this unlikely pair? That love is love is love is love is love.  In fact, the more traditional couples portrayed in the film all have serious communication issues making their marriages less happy than her unusual affair.

Naturally, the government captors want to experiment on the amphibian man, so she must find a way to rescue him from their clutches.  It's Romeo and Juliette, it's Stranger in a Strange Land, it's Creature From the Black Lagoon, and it's every love against all odds story you've ever seen.  It's shot in all greens and blues giving honor to the water (hello, cinematography nom) and the musical score is buoyant and beautiful.

Guillermo del Toro says that he spent his life obsessing on a single moment from the original Creature From the Black Lagoon in which the creature is just below the surface looking up at the leading lady, and he wondered his whole life how it would be for them to fall in love.  He has done that and much more with this simple story that makes no sense as an Oscar nominee, and every bit of sense as a nominee.  In its simplicity, the romance becomes something to behold, and I was deeply moved by a film that seemed so familiar and yet so original.