Arrival (2016)

I have been wanting to see Arrival, but I actually didn't intend on seeing it tonight. I went to see La La Land at Cinema Lumiere, where they show films in their original language. And it turns out the Italians don't want to watch La La Land in Italian either, so the screening sold out and I went to see Arrival instead. I was really bummed out because I've been looking forward to La La Land but I was really impressed by Arrival. My mind is totally blown and now I can't sleep thinking about how much I loved this movie. There is a Christopher Nolan-esque twist that I did not see coming, and I think the twist was better executed than Interstellar's, for example.

This is not an average science fiction film. Science fiction often falls victim to a strong start but a weak finish. They usually have trouble tying the loose ends. Arrival faces no such problem. The film comes full circle thematically, narratively, musically (great use of Max Richter) and visually. All my questions were answered. In such a movie with such complex themes, that is a real accomplishment. It requires a lot of thinking. In fact, I think it was dumbed down from the brilliant and creative short story (which gets more into the nitty gritty of the linguistics and science) written by Ted Chiang "Story of Your Life." Arrival is a much worse title if you ask me. Chiang's original title conveys meaning and depth while Arrival sounds like your typical sci-fi fare, which is severely underselling the movie. But Denis Villeneuve thought his movie was so far removed from the original story that the original title wasn't appropriate anymore. I disagree.

Villeneuve's style is evident. He proves himself to be one of the most talented young filmmakers today, following Prisoners and Sicario. This film uses a similarly dull smoky color palate, save for the orange hazmat suits which pop on the screen. He has such restraint, letting the film move at a slow pace, allowing for the viewer to really take it all in and process the complex plot. It is never showy. He brings depth and emotion to the sci-fi genre. When most would brings guns to the alien show, he brings brains and restraint. Amy Adams is fantastic. Her first encounter with the aliens requires the most acting from her, showing fear and apprehension. But as she becomes more comfortable, that apprehension subsides to just fear. But it is never a loud fear, rather restrained subdued fear.

The movie also very astutely predicted our own world's media demise. Living in a world of fake news and alternative facts, we see all too well the consequences of sensationalist media. In the film, the military men watch too much sensationalist TV news and listen to radical radio hosts the way we do in real life. And our own stupidity is a danger to our society.

Then really quickly, the sound and production work is really well done. I always like to see different conceptions of aliens and the designers created unique aliens, scripted language, spoken language, and alien sounds. The thinking work was done by Ted Chiang, but it was made visible by the production design.