Arrival (2016, PG-13)

This movie is slated to come out on DVD before the Oscars, but I was glad to see it return to my local theater so I could catch it on the big screen.  It’s gripping, well-thought-out sci-fi, taking an intense look at a less-flashy aspect of first contact and using it to explore the nature of communication, relationships, and trust (premise spoilers.)

Louise, a linguistics professor and well-respected interpreter, arrives at work one morning to find the entire world has changed:  twelve identical, imposing spaceships have appeared without warning at different points around the globe, and humanity doesn’t know whether to hold its breath or tear apart the streets.  Because of her past translation work for the U.S. government, Louise is recruited for the team charged with making first contact at a ship hanging over a remote spot in Montana.  As Louise works to find common work between humans and aliens, using two languages that are entirely different and not mutually known by both parties, tensions rise to a fever pitch over what intents the aliens might be hiding behind their seemingly-inscrutable language.

Having seen the movie, I totally get the sentiment about Amy Adams being snubbed for a Best Actress nomination.  Her Louise carries the film without a doubt, showing intelligence, ingenuity, strength, determination, and empathy in the face of overwhelming circumstances – the moments leading up to her first encounter with the “heptopods” are fantastic, and I love to see how she immerses herself so completely in understanding these visitors that many around her are quick to indisputably label as enemies.  At the same time, though, I find it believable that her work here didn’t get recognized by the Academy.  While Louise is an extraordinary woman, she demonstrates it by humbly, tirelessly devoting herself to the task at hand, and so Adams’s performance is by necessity subtler than many of the nominated actresses’.

However, in addition to its Best Picture nomination, the film garnered nods for directing, writing (Adapted Screenplay, based on a short story,) and cinematography, and from where I stand, all three are well-deserved.  Everything about the aliens and the first-contact efforts are just so blame cool and well-thought-out.  I like the piling-on of how utterly different the heptopods are, from their earthy-looking spaceship to their wild manipulation of gravity to the incredible care taken in rendering both the vocal and written aspects of their language (the film also, very rightly, was recognized for production design and sound editing/mixing.)

I love the theme of how communication unites or divides us as we let it, how we fear what we do not understand largely because we can’t grasp its words.  This movie depicts a world on the brink – inches from war, teetering on the edge, everything unrest and fear and paranoia – over threats it has anticipated rather than discovered.  Louise’s fantastic, grounding presence, often the lone voice for trying to understand one other rather than lashing out in fear of the unknown, is so beautifully powerful, a stunning display of a hand outstretched in potential friendship in the midst of a world readying itself for attack.

Warnings

Thematic elements, brief violence, and language.