Arrival (2016)

Arrival (2016)

I can’t remember the last time I left the cinema speechless. Maybe after the intergalactic experience of Interstellar or way back when Inception was initially released (yes I am a Nolan fanboy). But after seeing Denis Villeneuve’s new cerebral sci-fi, that feeling was certainly reinvigorated. Arrival is the new film by the Quebec filmmaker who I first encountered with his fantastic 2013 kidnap thriller feature Prisoners. He was then at the helm of the dense but fascinating Enemy, which unfortunately had a limited release and never received the viewership it deserved. However his most notable feature was the 2015 thriller Sicario, with an incredible central performance Emily Blunt and the incredible Roger Deakins cinematography, which was easily one the best films of that year.

Villeneuve’s new instalment is an adaptation of the short story ‘Story of Your Life’ by Ted Chiang. Focusing upon the arrival of a dozen space ships plotted all around the globe. Experiencing the events predominantly through the actions of the US Army, their ship drifting in the middle of a field in Montana. As they hope to make contact with the arachnid/squid like creatures (later to be called ‘heptapods’) they will need language specialists to understand their gorgeous ink floating dialect and later hoping to communicate back. This then leads into our protagonist Louise Banks (played by Amy Adams) becoming intertwined within the global event. As I’ve stated, this film is brilliant but it lives and breathes with Adams’ central performance. We engage the aliens through her interactions and her dissection of their language, whilst inter-cutting to flashbacks of her daughter. A familial element that consistently reminded me of Jodie Foster in Contact (Zemeckis, 1997). And similar to Emily Blunt in Sicario, this arguably is one of Adams’ best performances of her career.

What was so refreshing about Arrival, was its pacing. Villeneuve takes his time with the escalating turn of events, as each country attempts to communicate with the aliens first, they communicate little with any other nation. So as each linguistic discovery is achieved, the tension slowly builds. Additionally, as we gradually begin to associate ourselves with Banks (Adams), Banks begins to associate herself with aliens. A craftily implemented tandem effect that on reflection I enjoyed most about the film in general. On a side note, the opening silent montage is extremely reminiscent of the montage in Up.

Finally, the entire visual experience is something that is difficult to describe. Coming off his collaboration with Roger Deakins in Sicario, I was curious into how he could recapture those beautiful sweeping and claustrophobic visuals and in Bradford Young (Selma, A Most Violent Year) he has found his man. The sweeping camerawork is executed with precision and echoes an atmosphere I found akin to Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979), experiencing a space that is ultimately familiar but something is slightly off keel. Beautiful shots of the exterior alien vessel as the mist combs across the valley is truly a sight to behold.

Arrival is simply a brilliant, thought provoking and well executed cerebral sci-fi. A project anchored by the gripping performance of Amy Adams. The story grows with her and as the stakes come to a global breaking point, the final act does have the audience holding its collective breath. One of the best films you will definitely see this year and I strongly urge anyone to take time out of their day to see this exceptional piece of film.