Arrival

The Americans have finally decided to shoot a narrative sci-fi movie that, even though it’s lacking action, can still leave such a mark on the sci-fi genre that you’ll never be able to forget it. It even has innovative ideas and premises that aren’t cliché and they’re not based on a brand, unlike the comics movies industry. Arrival is a filmmaking triumph of the year. Not only does it come up with an interesting thought, it also turns it into a whole array of original ideas. For example, for a whole hour and a half, I thought that I was keeping up, but then in the last half an hour, I was completely lost and I had to keep thinking about the movie for the rest of the evening. That hasn’t happened to me in a long time and I’m always glad when it does. I think Denis Villeneuve is one of the most essential American (Canadian) contemporary filmmakers. Plus, I must thank Jóhann Jóhannson, the master of minimalism, for being extraordinary once again and choosing Max Richter to compliment his non-music. As I was saying, a movie that is genius as far as the idea goes, but also the production’s ration of sound to visuals, thus meeting all the requirements for high-quality science fiction. (07/12/2016)

A monumental, reflective, humanistic, moving sci-fi film. Exactly what Interstellar desperately wanted to be, but failed to achieve. Arrival is not without its minor issues, about which I may write later (IMHO, the way the script addresses the communication between the different world teams during the research is a little confusing), but the goosebumps at the end overcome all that. (11/11/2016)

The perfection of form, where every flyover, orbit, or simply a view of the elegance of anything is a visual fairy tale, won me over after a few minutes. I realized that Amy Adams is playing the role of her life right from the prologue. But I still remained sober, I still anxiously waited to see exactly how those touching family scenes would connect with the archetypal sci-fi plot, and until the very last moment, I didn't believe that they wouldn't appear as randomly thrown together elements. They didn't. Instead, Denis Villeneuve proves that he can cross genres in a Christopher Nolan-esque way, escalate tension, and share with us exhaustive spectator experiences that leave me so exhausted that I can't believe Arrival is really just a movie. Personal. (16/11/2016)

I would never have believed that a sci-fi film could say more about the nature of people in general than the hundreds of other psychological films that have graced cinema screens. This a cinema event with capital E, I've been waiting for sci-fi like this since Zemeckis's excellent Contact in 1997. And at the same time it's a litmus test of our population, whether you're idiots (like the guys two rows behind me, who spent the whole movie making jokes and unknowingly poking fun at their own idiocy) or sensitive people who can appreciate something like this. And Amy Adams is awesome. (21/11/2016)

Especially as an admirer of Denis Villeneuve, I regret that, in my opinion, Arrival stutters a little in the narrative entwinement of its two storylines. Louise’s life melodrama is powerful and the movie uses it to relay a more meaningful and tangible philosophical message than all other sci-fi movies from recent years (including the similarly intimate Gravity and Nolan’s bombastic brainless spectacle). This storyline won’t let you keep your eyes dry. But its interaction with the scientific thriller storyline about communication with aliens, whose purpose is to spur the viewer’s curiosity, bogs down in the last third. And not just because of the unnecessary, distracting detours, such as a group of rebel soldiers attacking an alien ship, but by failing to successfully combine the two narrative planes that are supposed to perfectly complement each other and knock out viewers by making some powerful point in climax. On the first viewing, I didn’t find the point all that breathtaking, while on the second viewing I, quite paradoxically, enjoyed Louise’s visions more as I knew what they meant thanks to prior knowledge of the ending. Neither of the viewings, though, brought me the emotional and intellectual ecstasy described by most of my fellow reviewers and which I’d frankly like to experience. The soundtrack and atmosphere are incredible, and Amy Adams is fantastic. (19/12/2016)