Arrival (2016)

“I welcome every moment of it.”

Never has there been a film that makes me sob so consistently, so uncontrollably, as Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival. Amy Adams brings a warm stoicism to her performance as Louise Banks, an accomplished linguist who is tasked with urgently translating an extraterrestrial language. Cinematographer Bradford Young worked with Villeneuve to harness as much natural light as possible in order to ground the story in realism, keeping Adams and the other humans washed out in contrast with the crisp, stunning landscapes and incredible depth of the alien heptapods. And while the visual design of the aliens & their language is beautifully unique, the film’s soundscape remains one of the most awe-inspiring sound designs to ever accompany an alien movie, and went on to earn the film’s only Academy Award.

Arrival is a visual palindrome about the radical pursuit of peace and empathy in spite of our inadequate, broken languages. The symmetry throughout the story makes it endlessly rewatchable, and the sheer beauty of some sequences literally takes my breath away. The moments of joy and love that Louise experiences ripple throughout time, extending way beyond life and death. Her choices are a celebration of the journey regardless of the end. Her memories create a kind of immortality.

This is the film that solidified director Denis Villeneuve’s reputation as a master of his craft, because this is a movie that would fall apart in most people’s hands. It’s a complicated script full of technical, clunky exposition that Villeneuve worked and reworked with screenwriter Eric Heisserer for years until production began. Without the visuals, sound, acting and editing all working together in tandem, the subtleties of this story could easily get lost, and it takes a very skilled leader to keep all these elements working together, nevermind in perfect harmony.
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