smart sci-fi

Rating: 8/10 (30 January 2017)

Louise Banks (Amy Adams) loses her daughter due to illness. She's a linguistics professor when alien ships land on earth. Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) asks her for translation help and she convinces him to join his contact group. She is paired up with theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner). They are one of twelve teams around the world in contact with a separate spaceship. The aliens use a circular smoke-like writing system. Eventually, China leads several teams to confront the aliens.
This is a change from the action-oriented sci-fi movies. It asks questions and challenges the audience. It's a mystery sci-fi. It is smart although I wonder if it could be even smarter. The reveal is nicely done. I want the writing system to be more profound and more easily connected in some way. The obvious comparison is the message in Contact and solving that message was a great revelation. This film is more murky and mysterious. The general sense is understandable but there needs to be an ah-ha moment in the audience translating the alien language. I can't give away any of it. Amy Adams does some good work. It's a beautiful film both visually and thematically. It's another solid film form Villeneuve.