Arrival

[MikeKardec]

Not really pertaining to anything this site is about except community BUT ...

A really terrific film made by some of the same people (director, editor, composer) that worked on last year's Sicario. Both thoughtful, creepy, amazingly atmospheric films. They have little else in common except that the director, Denis Villeneuve, is a master at telling a story with the barest trickle of information. It's only late in the game that you realize you really know as much as you do and that things are going to make sense even though you have been following characters who are mostly bewildered by the situation they are in.

An absolute master class for the delivery of information with the first rule being strip what you need the audience to know to enjoy (be shocked and awed by) the story to the bare minimum.

A few possible criticisms depending on how you look at things: 1) the film narratively plays games with time and the film is about the nature of time. If you decide to worry about it all in a literal sense you may get a headache because those are two different elements. One is the style of film making the other is a reality of the story ... few will be inclined to sweat it. 2) there could be more chemistry between the two leads ... but if there was it would distract you in ways that matter. I'm trying to avoid spoilers here so I'm not being as clear as I'd like.

Villeneuve is a cool, as in distant, calm, non manipulative. Spielberg he is NOT. This movie packs an emotional wallop and it's because he's not telling you what to think or feel. I appreciate that. I felt the same way about Sicario despite the fact that it has 'action film' elements. That film was a thought provoking story laid out on a bed of creeping, though utterly true to life, horror. No fantasy. This is Science Fiction and also a very thought provoking story laid out on a bed of creeping awe, the kind we haven't had in the genre since the passing of so many literary greats like Clarke and Asimov. Both stories are very even handed politically, a great relief in this day and age. They both deal with the human condition in profound and revealing ways.

Big thumbs up. Highly recommended. A powerful and moving film.

 

[scotrace]

I saw it opening day-- a really well made film. It's really impossible to say much about it without spoiling the whole thing, but I'll see it again on DVD for sure.
One thing I especially liked was the cinematography. For at least the first half of the film, every shot was in extreme focus with shifting depth of field, adding to the feeling that you weren't getting enough information to make sense of things, just as the characters felt.

 

[Worf]

"Arrival" - Long, slow, with a vaguely interesting premise. How do you communicate PEACEFULLY with an advanced alien race that shows up on your doorstep? I left neither moved, nor entertained. Perhaps it was my mood upon entering the theatre...

Worf

As I said above. I'll probably watch it again on my HT but my first viewing was not a great time.

Worf

 

[MikeKardec]

As I said above. I'll probably watch it again on my HT but my first viewing was not a great time.

Worf

I can understand that, regardless of the fact I felt differently about it. A lot of my feelings about it are the fascination with the way the director can present what seems to be so little textual information and yet create what is quite a complicated story that is piled high with nuance. In that way his last two films had run counter to trends running back quite a few years. Definitely an acquired taste as are the dim, blue, visuals. They remind me of some of Michael Mann's work, I used to say he shot films like he had a piece of bullet proof glass between the camera and the actors. Cool, removed, even a little hard to hear.

I think Sicario made more of Villeneuve's atmosphere of confusing menace though both films have a good story telling reason to put you in an world where you distinctly feel there is not enough information.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I saw it a couple of weeks ago and was mightily impressed. An actual SERIOUS SF film, beautifully done, surprisingly moving, and firmly anchored by Amy Adams' solid performance. And I was completely taken in by THE TWIST. You want to watch it again the minute it's over.

My only complaint, narratively speaking, was the international crisis aspect, which added unnecessary tension and was the least innovative thing in it. (OTOH, it cleverly provided distraction to prevent viewers from figuring out THE TWIST prematurely.)

 

[Tiki Tom]

Rented it last night. Really enjoyed it. Agree that it was a masterful work of understatement that really builds mood and tension. Part of why I watched it is because my brainiac daughter is studying linguistic anthropology and she recommended it. The film really takes the concept that language wires how our minds work to the Nth degree. No, I did not see the final plot twist coming. I also thought that the premise that solved the international problem also made the protagonists personal situation inevitable; so I thought it worked nicely. I really liked the movie for what it was: a thoughtful SF flick with (almost) nothing exploding.

OTOH, I can see how it might not be everyone's cup of tea. My best friend would have fallen asleep half way through.

 

[MisterCairo]

I will have to see this. I really like Denis ("Den-E") Villeneuve's films, and the last thing I saw Amy Adams in was Enchanted, last night with my daughter! I also think Jeremy Renner is one under-rated actor.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I posted a note about this in the What Was the Last Movie You Watched thread, http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/what-was-the-last-movie-you-watched.20830/page-1170, post 23391. Arrival was good stuff -- the exact antithesis of the Explosions in Space genre that most movie SF seems to have degenerated into.