Arrival

Arrival

A lot has been written about the personal stories being told through the horror genre in films like “It Follows,” “The Witch” and “The Babadook,” but what’s just as interesting is how science fiction has followed suit. In recent years, we’ve seen the genre used not just to explore space travel or a post-apocalyptic future, for example, but as a conduit for discussing common humanity more than futuristic adventure stories. Alongside movies like “Gravity,” “Interstellar” and “The Martian” comes Denis Villeneuve’s ambitious and moving “Arrival,” which is about the day the universe changed forever but becomes more focused on a single story even as it’s expanding its worldwide narrative.

It is about grief, time, communication and compassion more than warp speed; this is a film that asks questions. How do we approach that which terrifies us? Why is it important to communicate through language instead of action? The final act of “Arrival” gets at life’s big ideas in ways I won’t spoil here, except to say that viewers should be aware this isn’t “The Martian,” Ridley Scott’s crowd-pleaser from TIFF last year. It’s a movie designed to simultaneously challenge viewers, move them and get them talking. For the most part, it does.

Louise (Amy Adams) in “Arrival.” Photo: Paramount Pictures

Amy Adams gives an assured and affecting performance as Louise, a linguistics expert brought in on the day that 12 unidentified flying objects enter Earth’s orbit. Despite what they’re telling the public which is not much of anything at first the governments of the world have made contact with what’s inside them: creatures that look like if some higher power took an octopus and merged it with a giant hand. Working with Ian (Jeremy Renner), a scientist who specializes in physics rather than biology or linguistics, Louise wants to find out one thing: What do you want?

They eventually come to be called Heptapods, because they look like giant squids with seven limbs (so not the most imaginative name). The aliens speak in sounds that echo whale noises at times, but Louise discovers quickly that it’s written language that allows them to communicate, even figuring out how to read the way these interstellar tourists write. As she inches closer and closer to being able to ask that question in a way that it (and its answer) will be understood, the world only grows more uneasy. If man’s protective instinct doesn’t kick in before its science and language leaders can figure out how to prevent it well, let’s hope we learn fast.

Louise has darkness in her past. We see the birth of a child. We see the brief life of a child. And we see its death. Throughout all this and all of Adams’ very strong work in between she plays Louise with an undercurrent of quiet, effective emotionality that is essential for what “Arrival” becomes as a movie.

This is one that gets too sterile at times; Adams never does. Villeneuve’s vision isn’t particularly CGI-heavy, allowing Adams’ performance here to feel grounded in a way that seems relatable; there’s so much going on within this character’s head and heart (especially late), with which she could have “gone big,” but I’d argue this is actually one of the more subtle and internal sci-fi performances I’ve ever seen from anyone.

And it’s indicative of the movie’s success as a whole, honestly, because by next week if not already her face will be what people remember most about “Arrival,” not some cool spaceship or weird creature design.

Amy Adams gives an assured and affecting performance as Louise in “Arrival.” Photo: Paramount Pictures

Like he has lately, Villeneuve understands the value of enlisting talented people. In this instance, two of the film’s unquestionable MVPs are cinematographer Bradford Young, the savant who shot “Selma” and “A Most Violent Year,” and composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Here, the latter’s compositions are essential to every emotional beat of the film: They set an atmosphere of tension for its first half and provide a moving undercurrent to the final act.

Young’s approach is beautifully tactile he uses the natural world to make this unnatural story feel real. We may not be able to relate fully to Louise’s narrative, but we can understand a child running through a field. Unlike the choppy blockbuster cinematography we’re used to seeing in sci-fi flicks, Young’s imagery is fluid; it breathes. It feels like one vision cinematography, direction, acting, score and so on instead of another one of those factory-produced blockbusters that we’ve been getting of late.

Having said all that boy does “Arrival” sag in the middle. And it may lose some people for good right there. The “first contact” act is undeniably confident. The final few scenes thematically encapsulate everything about what Denis Villeneuve is trying to say with his movie. They are stunningly ambitious. But somewhere in between those two points there’s something sterile about it.

Without spoiling anything: In order to maintain some degree of shock value for twists in these final few scenes which it does successfully there are some narrative decisions made during this mid-section that keep us observers (instead of participants) while we watch everything unfold. Villeneuve is great at creating heat between characters (“Sicario”) or within them (“Prisoners”).

But there is none here not even when aliens land on Earth and attempt communication with us. He’s not a cold filmmaker, but this movie lacks some degree of heat that would have helped it hit the emotional beats and philosophical beats of these final few scenes. So we often feel like we’re behind that barrier there with Louise, using that communication device to talk with Abbott and Costello. Like she wants to do, God do we want to take off the equipment and get behind that screen.

That said: This is ambitious filmmaking ambitious and accomplished. It’s a film that forces you to think about what makes us human and how grief fits into our timeline of existence. At its best (and mostly through Amy Adams’ performance), the film proposes that we’ve all had those days where communication breaks down and fear over what we don’t know sets in. It’s up to the best of us to keep our heads up when life knocks us down it’s up to the best of us to repair what’s broken on the other side.

Watch Arrival For Free On Gomovies.