Amelie x The Fly

Rating: 9/10 (4 March 2018)

I was not prepared for this movie. I mean I knew there was something out of the ordinary in it but I was just not ready for it. It's like Amelie x The Fly, that's the best way I can put it so at least you kinda know what you're getting into.
Elisa is a mute that works as a cleaner for a US government facility that has recently come into possession an "asset" that might prove useful in pushing the US forward against USSR in the Space Race. In time she develops an understanding with the creature and moves heaven and earth in order to save it from experimentation and possible extermination.
Bringing this extraordinary story to life is a mix of kooky characters led by Elisa played by Sally Hawkins, who was able to communicate more than those who had speaking lines attesting to her well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Actress. The relatable Giles (he has a cat! he loves showbusiness! he has a crush on the pie guy!) is Richard Jenkins (who you might remember from HBO's Six Feet Under), Dmitri the Soviet spy you'll root for portrayed by the talented Michael Stuhlberg (if you thought Timothee Chalamet will have a problem choosing where to sit at the Oscars, at the Call Me By Your Name or Lady Bird section, Michael has CMBYN, the Post and then this movie). Also worth mentioning is Michael Shannon as Strickland who's a menacing presence to behold more so even than the creature in his possession.
What I like about the movie is it celebrates the outcasts of society: a Spanish mute, a lonely old gay man, an African-American woman who lives for her husband, and the captured creature itself. We often see through the eyes of gorgeous leading men and women, but what it's like to be among the loneliest of the lonely? This movie answers it and it's not as sad as one would think. There's a certain beauty in the way they live their lives.
After watching, I didn't know how to feel or am quite unable to put into words what my thoughts are of it. I feel like I was assaulted, but not really, you know? Maybe it's one of the movies that you either get it or you don't and I'm glad this was one of those times that I did.
Favorite Quote: "Unable to perceive the shape of You, I find You all around me. Your presence fills my eyes with Your love, It humbles my heart, For You are everywhere."