The Shape of Water (2017)
This is the crowd-pleasing piece of interspecies erotica the world didn't realize it needed. By its plot (and given its relative explicitness), this would seem like an outré film that would divide audiences. But for my packed screening (admittedly an arthouse, and the only screen in my major metropolitan area showing the film this week) was hanging on its every turn, such that by the end there was that kind of vocal participation that might otherwise annoy a viewer, and ending in applause when the credits rolled.
Now, I could tell you what I saw in the film, but part of me wants to picture what it was like to watch for the two very young girls (like 3 and 6?) that the guy next to me brought with him. Now, let me be clear, even as someone with a questionable sense of age appropriateness I am fairly confident one should not bring a pre-teen to this film. It is quite a hard R with language, violence and sexuality/nudity. But while I might be a little concerned, I reckon somewhere in their subconscious, the film's centering of Elisa (Sally Hawkins) and her sexual desire. Early on it is established that she has a pre-work "bathing ritual" and as the relationship with the amphibious man develops, we see pleasure and joy, not shame or guilt, not judgment, even if a bit of curiosity. Single-digits is young in the totality of it, but if you asked me if I'd let or want a teenage daughter to watch this I'd say "hell yeah!"
It is a film that wears the attire of so many brands of genre cinema, sci-fi, spy, heist, but at its heart it is a romance worthy of the AFI 100 Passions list. And it might just be worthy of my Top 100 list.