The Shape of Water (15)
Directed by Guillermo del Toro

LITTLE could Guillermo del Toro's six-year-old self have imagined that his discovery of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and subsequent love of monsters would one day result in an Oscar-nominated cinematic wonder.

Creepy yet delightfully charming and touching, The Shape of Water is a spellbinding and visually arresting adult fairytale set in the US in 1962 against the backdrop of the cold war and it's on a par with his great works such as Pan's Labyrinth, Cronos and The Devil's Backbone.

Del Toro, who co-wrote and directed, combines the classic monster horror genre with film noir and encases it in a powerful love story with a musical number reminiscent of The Singing Detective thrown in.

In it, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, aka Amphibian Man (played brilliantly by Doug Jones), finds love with the mute Elisa (the Oscar-nominated Sally Hawkins) who works as a cleaner at a top-secret government facility. There she strikes up a unique relationship with the creature, described as an Amazonian river god, who is being held captive.

The film explores the idea of love and its barriers, juxtaposed against the enmity between nations — particularly the Soviet Union and the US — and of people due to race, colour and gender.

It opens with an exquisitely ethereal underwater scene in which the sleeping Elisa floats in her apartment. Its stunning, dreamlike quality belies the brutal violence that follows, perpetrated by government agent Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon, on sinister form) who brutally tortures the creature with an electric cattle prod and insinuates himself with Elisa.

Meanwhile, the vile Strickland is in a race against time to stop Soviet spies getting their hands on the asset. Sleek and striking, the creature is refreshingly portrayed as the good guy while Strickland is the ruthless villain.

Hawkins gives an extraordinary performance and the best of her career to date without uttering a word, conveying everything she feels and thinks with just a look or a gesture. Octavia Spencer provides light relief with her caustic and stinging repartees as Elisa's work colleague and best friend and Richard Jenkins is sublime as Elisa's next-door neighbour and friend.

The attention to detail and endless nods and winks to film genres and musical greats which are seamlessly interwoven into this remarkable tale will keep ardent cinephiles entertained.

Del Toro proves once more he is a master storyteller and a cinematic maestro with this complex and moving visual masterpiece.

It's a surreal love story which will blow you away.