Emotion and Science

Rating: 8/10 (18 February 2017)

There are now two upcoming directors which I closely follow: Damien Chazelle and Denis Villeneuve. Of Villeneuve I saw Incendies (9), Prisoners (8.5) and Sicario (8), which are phenomenal movies. I love his style, his movies are dark, slow and intense, not to mention very good. So I was pumped to see this movie, but after a very disappointing summer (and year thus far) what could I expect? Much.
I thanked God for this movie that came after a sh!t summer. A breath of fresh air, which is weird as the movie is so dark and slow. Let's start with the story: so a handful of alien ships land on earth with no one having any idea of what they came for or, more importantly, how to communicate. So they find the linguist Louise Banks (Adams) to try and figure out how to speak with the alien visitors.
The acting is amazing, well, Amy Adams is amazing and was absolutely robbed of her Oscar nomination (wake up people). She's so subtly very emotional, she doesn't say much but it's all there. You really feel for her, you believe she is figuring out this way of communicating with aliens. Renner is kind of acting besides her, I mean he's fine but just that. People like to talk about Whitaker in this film, but he didn't do anything, so calm down.
Yes, the script is amazing, clever and surprisingly emotional. The approach that it takes to find a linguist is very realistic and clever. But it is the structure that is important. (If you haven't seen the movie now is the time to go see it you worthless scum.) It takes you by surprise as the whole movie you are trying to figure out what the flashbacks have to do with the story, or to understand the emotions of Banks. The ending is not only humane and beautiful, really beautiful, it's also very smart. The whole movie, and the entirety of what she feels and through her we feel makes sense. The choice she makes is one of love, pure love, in an otherwise very scientific movie. Which is what I loved too, it's all very grounded. The characters are not black and white, they're complex, all of them. But it's the method of figuring out how to communicate with these beings that have nothing in common with the human race that is so interesting and very well handled and thought out. It's suspenseful, clever and the cinematography is amazing. Every movie of Villeneuve looks just gorgeous. The moment you see the ship, just cinema gold. That moment represents how you feel watching the film, standing in awe.
It is an scientific movie that in its core is powerfully human and emotional. Mr. Villeneuve you have done it again!
8.5