Arrival

Rating: 9/10 (18 November 2016)

"Arrival" is a very cerebral film, but that doesn't mean that the film isn't intense, or thoroughly interesting and entertaining. While there may not always be something exciting happening on screen, in the traditional sense, there is always something to think about in what you are being shown and told.
"Arrival" begins with a shot of a ceiling, panning down to show an empty house with a glass wall, and the deep horizon beyond that. Next, it begins a montage of personal memories. Louise Banks has a daughter, her daughter becomes a teenager, she is distanced from Louise, she is diagnosed with cancer, Louise's daughter dies. Over top of this is a speech about the chronology of memories and how she doesn't yet understand how they work. This is a perfect introduction to the film. It shows interpersonal relationships and memories connected to all that beyond us which we can't yet understand.
When Louise first hears of the news of extraterrestrials, her first reaction is to continue every day life and her job as a linguist professor and expert, pretending as if nothing happened. Except empty, desolate shots of her walking through the building show us that no one shows up to her class. There is a sense that nothing truly matters to humans anymore. No one cares about classes, because they know there is so much beyond them, more advanced than them, that they couldn't possibly understand, and going to any class or job would now be pointless. They are reminded of their insignificance. Therefore, when Louise is given the chance to interact and understand these extraterrestrials (due to her cooperation with the government before), she goes for it. She could become significant.
From this point on, the film becomes incredibly tense throughout. The fantastic soundtrack lends to an element of mystery. Villenueve handles the first encounters with the aliens slowly and deliberately, revealing a little information at a time and showing just enough to pique our interest and give tension to the scene. The end result made the encounters with the aliens genuinely awe- inspiring.
However, even outside of the encounters there is always much to think about, and it's subtlety is the key to its success. It let's the audience the thinking about the ideas it presents. There is much shown about the various reactions to the aliens. Many gave up, seeing their arrival as evidence of their own insignificance in the universe, sending all moral codes and government established laws out the window. Some assumed that these aliens were a religious fulfillment, sent there by God for humanity. Some immediately assumed the worst of the aliens, taking an aggressive stance towards them and wanting to drive them away out of fear, and a desire to go back to normal life. All are wrong. Humanity is its own worst enemy. The correct response is to attempt to communicate with them and understand them. Louise levels with them as beings, and eventually she finds out we are just as important in the universe as these advanced beings, and one day may be even more advanced than them.
Ian Donnely, a man working with Louise, claims that science and math are the only ways to communicate with the aliens. Louise thinks it's language, and she's right. After all, what's to say these advanced aliens don't have a completely separate set of mathematical and scientific laws and principles? What they definitely have is language. It is the only way to communicate experiences, therefore learn more and advance further.
There is a theory stated in the film that the language you speak (or write) determines the way you think. Louise ultimately learns this through her experience.
The way she thinks is entirely changed. Memories extend out in both directions, seeing her future as well as her past. All time is depicted as a solid, unchangeable loop, but this Predestination isn't depicted as a bad thing. Louise is able to accept her place in the universe, and her future life ahead of her. Her life is shown as happening as it should rather than happening beyond her control.
As far reaching and mind-bending as these ideas are, there is always a focus on the personal lives and relationships of characters. Towards the beginning of the film, there is a larger sense of size and scale beyond ourselves, the framing often showing the characters as small and the spaceship and aliens as large in scope and size. Later in the film, however, the characters are often framed in the foreground, with the spaceship out of focus in the background, depicting their own lives as constantly their main focus rather than the bigger picture. No matter what, our personal experiences and relationships define us, no matter how advanced we become or how much more there is beyond us.
There are a lot of ideas to digest in this film, and, while the entire film is interesting and thought provoking, the end is pretty mind blowing. This is definitely my favorite film of the year so far, and maybe a 10/10, but I'd need a second watch.