Love comes in all shapes and sizes in The Shape of Water director Guillermo del Toro‘s romantic ode to old Hollywood monster movies. An other-worldly fable, set against the backdrop of the Cold War era in America circa 1962, the film is poised to win big on Oscar night – with thirteen nominations total.
Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is a mute, isolated woman who works as a cleaning lady in a hidden, high-security government laboratory in Baltimore. Her life changes forever when she discovers the lab’s newest classified secret: a mysterious, scaled creature (Doug Jones) from South America that lives in a water tank. As Elisa develops a unique bond with her new friend, she soon learns that its fate and very survival lies in the hands of a hostile government agent (Michael Shannon) and a marine biologist (Michael Stuhlbarg). With the help of her nearest and dearest friends – fellow custodian Zelda (Octavia Spencer) and straight-laced neighbor Giles (Richard Jenkins) – she sets out to protect the creature and open the possibilities of her future.