The mirror is one of the truly great cinematic objects. Their use has fascinated viewers and directors alike and their rich metaphorical potential coupled with the innate visual properties they offer allow possibilities for their employment  in many different ways: to add new perspective to a scene, to imply a characters conflicting personalities or to facilitate jump scares to name a few. This weeks Top 5 looks at the films that used mirrors in the most compelling, novel or visually distinctive ways.

Guillermo del Toro is one of a trio of Mexican filmmakers including Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro Iñárritu whose work is essential viewing for anyone who considers themselves a film fan. THE SHAPE OF WATER is del Toro's 2017 critically acclaimed Oscar winner, an adult fairy tale featuring a love affair between Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) and The Asset (Doug Jones), an aquatic-Lovecraftian abomination with a temperament and communication capability roughly equivalent to those of a dog, set against the backdrop of cold war paranoia in Baltimore, 1962. This is a stunning visual treat, although at times del Toro's obvious love for AMELIE becomes distracting. As  a metaphor for love and life and whatever it's an infantile one though and while I know that I am supposed to be enjoying what the coupling of the fish man and the woman represents, the symbolic sentiment of everyone finding a soul mate, and unique and different people being appreciated and all that but a) I think that’s total nonsense, there’s no such thing as a soul mate just as their is no such thing as a soul and b) she’s having sex with a sea monster, it’s a bit like teaching a gorilla sign language and then taking it home for a frolic in your back garden amongst the fig trees.

The probability of us enjoying a cartoon with the word 'underpants' in the title must be higher than Snoop Dogg's ceiling fan, so will THE EPIC TALES OF CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS fulfil it's potential? Captain Underpants and The Frenzied Farts of Flabby Flabulous sees George Beard, Harold Hutchins and their head teacher-turned-superhero Mr Krupp do battle with the evil Mr Meaner, whose bottom is turned temporarily monstrously large due to classmate Melvin's Pumpitupinator 2000. Delightfully silly, with plenty of visual invention and great har.

We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. Try us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review or on our website baddadsfilm.com.
 
Until next time, we remain...
 
Bad Dad