Written by Guillermo Del Toro & Vanessa Taylor.
Directed by Guillermo Del Toro.
★★★
This 1950's period fairy tale is of course what Guillermo Del Toro would come up with. What if the Creature from the Black Lagoon fell in love, and that love was requited?
Sally Hawkins gives Frances McDormand and Saoirse Ronan a run for their award-nomination money as Elisa, a mute cleaning lady at an important government facility. One night a sadistic Fed (Michael Shannon) brings in a strange water creature he found in the Amazon (which is freshwater but the movie claims it's saltwater). He wants to study it by torturing it and eventually dissecting it, but Elisa sees into its soul - his soul - and sees an intelligent being.
It takes place during the Cold War, so there's that red paranoia at play. When Soviets do show up, it reminded me of Hail Caesar more than anything.
Solid support comes from Octavia Spencer as Elisa's co-worker, Richard Jenkins as Elisa's closeted artist roommate, and Michael Stuhlbarg as a sympathetic scientist.
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