Directed (and written) by Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim; Pan's Labyrinth; Hellboy) and starring Sally Hawkins (Maudie; Blue Jasmine; Made in Dagenham; Paddington), Octavia Spencer (The Help; Hidden Figures; Fruitvale Station; Insurgent), Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road; Nocturnal Animals; Elvis & Nixon; Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), Richard Jenkins (Burn After Reading; Kong: Skull Island; The Visitor; White House Down; Jack Reacher) and Michael Stuhlbarg (Steve Jobs; A Serious Man; Lincoln; Seven Psychopaths; Pawn Sacrifice; Blue Jasmine).
Fantasy drama; 123 mins; 16+
In this adult fairy tale (think "Pan's Labyrinth"), master storyteller and director Guillermo del Toro brings the audience on an adventure; set in the 1960s at the time of the cold war, with suspicion regarding the Russians rife, particularly in military installations/projects, the film features Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins), a mute woman who lives by herself in a run-down apartment above a cinema and works as a cleaner at a government installation along with friend Zelda Fuller (Octavia Spencer).
One day she sees a creature brought in to the facility and cruelly mistreated by Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon). Despite her lowly status in the organisation and her lack of speech, she secretly communicates with the creature and feeds him, showing tenderness in contract to others around. Dr. Robert Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg) is a scientist working at the facility and is vehemently opposed to Strickland's plans to kill the creature so he can be dissected to "further science".
With the help of her friend Zelda and neighbour Giles (Richard Jenkins), Elisa hatches a daring plan to help the creature... This helps her and her friends - who could be described as being on the fringe of society back then, being handicapped, black and gay respectively - escape her life of isolation.
A great visual treat which has received no less than 13 Oscar nominations. This film opens at Kinepolis Luxembourg on Wednesday 31 January 2018.
