I've been thinking about this blog post for the past few days, completely unsure as to how to begin. Walking out of the cinema after seeing "Arrival" I was speechless. Driving home, getting ready for bed - still speechless. So let's see if I can finally find some words.
Sci-fi is often thought of as cerebral and adventurous, albeit somewhat emotionally cold. "Arrival", however, is a deeply personal movie. It is incredibly intelligent and thrilling, but its story telling is so firmly grounded in Amy Adam's character that you feel every heartbeat each step of the way. You experience what's unfolding on screen through her eyes and it feels unbelievably real. And I have to say, Amy Adams is on top form delivering a breathtaking and authentic performance!
Here's the premise: one day 12 spaceships suddenly appear over various locations around the world. No national landmark explosions or alien invasion, just these giant orbs hanging impossibly in the air. They are occupied though, so each country with one of these ships in their back yard tries in their own way to communicate with the new arrivals. Amy Adam's character is a linguistics professor and is brought along to assist in the attempts at communication.It's not a film about aliens. It's a film about human intimacy. It explores the constructs of how we interact with each other and the many factors involved in communication; factors such as language, distance, culture, stress, fear, political motivations, grief, media soundbites, physical environment... the list goes on.
It's fascinating stuff, particularly the notion of how our language/communication effects our cognitive experience of the world. But so much more than that, "Arrival" is absolutely beautiful and profound in it's observations about life, love and loss.
I haven't even mentioned the cinematography and the music - oh the music! I was gripped, moved, thrilled, moved so more and just utterly UTTERLY absorbed in the story. It was an indescribable experience that couldn't have been more welcome this week with all that's going on in the world.
I'm going to go see it again. How about you?
