Film of the Week: Arrival

Question: Why did it take this long for me to see this? Answer: I don’t know.

Based on the 1998 short story, “Story of Your Life”, by Ted Chiang, this is a true mind bender with a beautiful story. There is a big twist, but it doesn’t hit you as hard as some, but instead just casually reveals it and lets you process the information, so it doesn’t take away from the emotional experience nor the ideas and concepts that are so brilliantly explained throughout.

Amy Adams plays a linguistics lecturer, Louise Banks, and Jeremy Renner plays theoretical physicist, Ian Donnelly, and together they are tasked with tackling the monumental challenge of understanding an alien race who suddenly appeared across the world in twelve different places. There isn’t a war, there isn’t any in-your-face action sequences, just a detailed encounter of one race saying hello to another. All the human race wants to do is ask “what is your purpose?” But before either one can give an answer, they both have to learn the other’s language, which is a unique and complex one, that also sits as the foundation of the story itself.

The soul of this movie is just one rhetorical question: Would you change your life choices if you knew the future? We’re left discussing that question and that question alone. If we were left trying to understand the movie as well with many questions unanswered – like most mind bending movies – the impact wouldn’t be the same.

The atmosphere this film generates drew me in. The music, the drama, the mystery of the alien race, all came together to create one heck of a fantastic experience. I came away from with my head filled with so many thoughts. Arrival is an incredible piece of art, and one that I wish I saw last year because it would have changed my list of my top 10 films of 2016, and it would be sitting quite high up as well – definitely within the top 3, at least.

If you haven’t gotten around to seeing Arrival yet, you need to set some time aside because you won’t regret it. It’s a monumentally spectacular film, complete with superb music, stunning visuals, and a mind bending story with a deep question at its centre; it truly is a masterpiece.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)