The Shape of Water

There are monster movies and there are Guillermo del Toro's monster movies, but this Oscar-winning fantasy should not be confused with the more teen-friendly likes of Hellboy and Pacific Rim. Sally Hawkins plays Elisa, a mute office cleaner who works at a high-security government lab, where aviation technology is being developed. One day, her curiosity is piqued when a strange container is wheeled in. The tank contains a beautuful webbed fish-man (a prettified nod to the occupant of the Black Lagoon), and Elisa is smitten. The real monster of the piece, however, is Michael Shannon's ice-cold Colonel Strickland, who sees the creature as an abomination. Elisa gets wind of Strickland's plans to vivisect her new friend, to further the fledgling Nasa programme, and her race to save him adds a genuinely tense climax to a surprising and striking adult fairy tale.