The Brilliance of *ARRIVAL*

[@courtneylovett8307]

What's even more heartbreaking about Abbott's death is because they have nonlinear foresight, he knew he was going to die and yet fulfilled his mission :( respect to the realest heptapod

[@lanfear5864]

Holy cow, have seen this so many times (and get something new each time), this never occurred to me! Wow!

[@HarryCaneNo1]

You are aware that this is nothing but a plot whole, right? The movie simply fails at avoiding a typical time paradoxon. If the aliens were able to see our future, why not deliver the message in a different way, why not dodge the explosion, why not 100 different things? It's just pure nonsense. If Amy will get the skill to understand time like they do, why does she not have it already? Because when she will be able to see her past in the future, then she would "tell herself" about it so she knew it earlier? Get the problem?

[@caleidoo]

But that means he could have also prevented his death. Not letting them lift the bomb into their ship... or magically push them away sooner. Or differently.

[@courtneylovett8307]

​@@caleidoo Perhaps, maybe. But that might have made the situation inevitable under two possible realities, bear with me: 1) They see everything. The humans at that point did not have the gift/language of foresight. Louise was their mission: her vast understanding of language made her the perfect and arguably fastest choice on the entire planet. To even bother with the soldiers would be a waste of Abbott and Costello's time. So, you have two choices: A) prevent the soldiers from ever attacking by not letting them or anyone else back into your ship. Communication stops, panic ensues once the soldiers suspect you "know something" and now everyone is on the defensive. The soldiers and other understandably paranoid people on the base are looking for any excuse to believe the worst. B) Allow the bomb to blow, making the humans the antagonists who violated the neutral standing you've had up until this point, placing you on a moral highground where you would be justified to retaliate. But, to maintain peace and goodwill, you not only don't retaliate, but also save the most brilliant minds from an attack they caused themselves, showing them the devasting result of miscommunication and infighting. 2) It's possible the aliens have limited foresight. We're shown multiple points in the film that Louise receives premonitions across the timeline only when it is necessary and sometimes when it is inconvenient. Now, you can chock that up to her being a novice with the gift since she's still learning the language, but it could also be a possibility Abbott and/or Costello only have short term glimpses or bursts into the future. It's possible Abbott couldn't have known he was going to die until that day, or an hour before the soldiers made up their minds to attack. So both him and Costello are acting the best way they know how with the limited premonitions they are given. ^Now this is my best attempt at making a logical argument, but I was originally commenting on the emotional resonance and themes of the film: if you knew the end, would you make the choice? Abbott's death/sacrifice encapsulates that perfectly.

[@elbruces]

@@caleidoo He's in the same position that she is with her daughter. If you can see how your life goes, even how it ends, would you still go through with it? His death led towards the unification of humankind, which presumably will lead towards ]saving his species. And he went through with it.

[@GarrettHarlen]

His wife’s dying words: “In war, there are no winners, only widows.”

[@bolchinsky]

wowww thankyou

[@SL22798]

Thank you for this.

[@Punkanova]

Thank you so much

[@ather_here]

dammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[@pearl3293]

that is perfect! tysm!

[@Tokitato]

This movie was so good, I remember a comment that stuck with me from another post that just hit so good was, "She let her daughter be born because her Arrival was more important than her departure."

[@Chumppi]

Still super selfish and despicable.

[@backinmydaycartoons7957]

@@Chumppi the whole of humanity would revere her as a hero. You're free to be the statistical outlier n argue why humans should've let themselves die for 1 baby tho.

[@Chumppi]

@@backinmydaycartoons7957 She didn't do it for the humanity. She did it for selfish reasons.

[@xBenjiSx]

@@Chumppi I wouldn't exactly call giving someone a dozen or so years of good life selfish just because the life ends prematurely. It was a choice between letting someone live for a shorter time or not exist at all. But to each their own, I guess.

[@Chumppi]

@@xBenjiSx Not to get personal but I guess you haven't experienced anyone close to you dying to a long disease like cancer. It's absolutely awful.

[@sirgnome]

"I forgot how good it felt to be held by you" is a line that fucks me up every time I think about it. I love this movie so much.

[@kylefoutz4920]

I think it's the first time he's ever hugged her. That's my impression.

[@wtimmins]

... same. sniff

[@absolutjackal]

@@kylefoutz4920it is technically in her timeline but she’s also having a very visceral memory of it which is what is so interesting about it.

[@absolutjackal]

What also gets me about it is it implies she’s “starting” the relationship already having all emotional baggage, good and bad, of having been in it. But he doesn’t. Also of course it goes to the age old question of free will…people comment sometimes saying that they wouldn’t have had Hannah if they were in her shoes but I think the point is that she never really had a choice.

[@Heroo01]

@@kylefoutz4920 duh, that's why it's impactful

[@DragoonxVII]

One of the few films that gave me full body shivers when they revealed the twist. I'll never forget the feeling. One of my favorite films of all-time--the writing, directing, and acting are as good as it gets but with the added fun of cool sci-fi concepts to blow your brain every time.

[@trhansen3244]

Same here. But only because I realized I will never get the time and money I wasted on this overrated crap.

[@HereBeDragonsYT]

Indeed. It became an instant classic.

[@johnbernhardtsen3008]

I think I held my breath for 1½ minutes straight when General Chang told her his dying wives last words!

[@sparksdrinker5650]

Name 3 more that gave you full body shivers

[@MelHyde]

Yas

[@jaryse6466]

The fact that Amy Adams has been nominated for 6 Oscars and wasn't even NOMINATED for this is absolutely insane!!!

[@AImusicreactor]

Agreed times a thousand! PheNOMinal performance!

[@pingyang-zg9jg]

True

[@robertanderson6929]

Hollywood just doesn't appreciate science fiction. They are happy to profit from it but they don't respect it and that is why they rarely make GOOD science fiction.

[@1992mjcc]

That same year she was in Nocturnal Animals where she was amazing too and I really believe that she splited votes with those movies and that's why she didn't got nominated at all that year, which is crazy and unfair but I strongly believe that happened.

[@HalkerVeil]

Didn't she just say she was a SAG screener and couldn't be bothered to remember the plot of this one? I think that explains everything. Not that the movie was bad, but the type of people reviewing them for awards. This is one of those movies that sets a bar that I still remember to this day. But then I understood the plot, it's clear she didn't. So there's that.

[@dihboas]

The first time I saw this movie that line “who is this child?” sent a shiver down my spine

[@tooluser]

as a parent, it snapped me in half.

[@grant2989]

My brain exploded when I saw the kid’s drawing of the bird and the heptapod

[@zorak964]

E acontece comigo sempre que reassisto... Saudações conterrâneas! ^^

[@Etticos.]

This is such a banger. Back in the day, miner’s would bring a bird into the mines with them. If a scentless lethal gas started leaking out from the mine, the bird would die first and act as a warning to the miners. A “canary in a coal mine”. The sankrit meaning debate shows that she is far more knowledgeable to the nuance of language, which in this situation could have a large impact. Take the word “awful” for example. To most it simply means “really bad”. But if you analyze the components of the word it means “to inspire awe”. “Awe” itself is a neutral word so at some point awful meant something like “to fill someone with a feeling of being amazed and overwhelmed and stunned by something” which evolved to “being overwhelmed and stunned by something terrible” which evolved to “very bad”.

[@psypsy751]

As an English major and former aspiring linguist, I adore this movie. The script reveals itself on a second viewing, because at first you watch it and, without knowing, it looks like a space horror wherein some lovecraftian monsters come in and give humanity weapons to fight each other, but on a second viewing, you have the information of what's going to happen (just like the main character) and you realize the humans' fear of *other* is what drives the conflict, and the aliens, are, in fact just looking for cooperation. That basically changes the genre of the movie between viewings too. Also, the fact that the character who studies Languages is the one with the tools to overcome the conflict really hits for me, the fact that she makes what seems to be predetermined choices is also brilliant because it subverts the free-will/predestination dichotomy, because it's all about the journey anyway. One of the few perfect movies.

[@mbpoblet]

You might enjoy the short story it's based on, Story of Your Life, by Ted Chiang, published as part of the anthology Stories of Your Life and Others. Of course you already know the twist, but it's a great read anyway, and the other stories in the book are great too.

[@psypsy751]

@@mbpoblet That's a good shout! I've found an anthology that's gonna make for a good weekend read. Cheers!

[@sparksdrinker5650]

You certainly drone on like an English major.

[@psypsy751]

@@sparksdrinker5650 🤷‍♀

[@synthetic240]

@@mbpoblet I really enjoyed the two that explore "classical magic as science". Golems fueling an industrial revolution. And the one about the alchemical theory of the homunculus.

[@fajenthygia5760]

My favorite theory with this movie: There's only one ship, that just happens to be in 12 different places at once. 12 locations * 90 minutes = 18 hours, which is the interval.

[@SparkyNJ]

You just blew my mind🤯

[@NataliePine]

Oh my god

[@caleidoo]

Time was non-linear, not location. Nothing points out nor implies they can clone themselves at the same moment.

[@NataliePine]

@@caleidoo The heptapods have lots of technology that humans don't, in addition to their unique view of time. Abbott and Costello could be teleporting between the 12 different ships, spending 90 minutes at each location to talk to the different human teams.

[@fajenthygia5760]

@@caleidoo Time and location are the same thing. Both the math working out so perfectly, and the existence of time travel at all, implies it can be done.

[@enzoriasn]

My interpretation of Ians wrath about Louise telling him is that he is not mad that she knew and didn't tell him before they got Hannah, but that she told him and he would have preferred not to know, since he could not bear the thought of the daughters inevitable death. So my interpretation of "you chose wrong" was not the choice to have Hannah, but that she told him that she was going to die, so he could not enjoy the time with her alive

[@EricksonEtc]

That was my interpretation as well.

[@joshuaoehler5796]

I have to disagree. Louise had already experienced Hannah's life - for her, with a non-linear view of time, having Hannah wasn't a choice - she already existed. Ian, on the other hand, clearly didn't fully learn Heptapod (or he would already have known about Hannah's fate) so he still perceived time linearly. He felt that Louise had to make a choice to bring Hannah into the world. Louise knew differently.

[@crunchyoats1862]

@@joshuaoehler5796 Yeah, Ian was angry that Louise brought Hannah into the world just to die, it seems cruel to him

[@rhonafenwick5643]

Ian's line "Screw it - everybody dies, right?" is so heartbreaking once you know the twist.

[@lizryan7451]

The first time I watched Arrival, I went into it knowing basically nothing about it, and was absolutely floored by how incredible the writing was! About as close as you could get to a perfect movie in my book. I love Amy Adams' performance and her chemistry with Jeremy Renner. I love the way the movie makes you think in the end about what you would do if you could see the way your life was going to play out, and all the joy and pain that would entail.

[@ChrisB-yv1sj]

The first time I saw this movie, it haunted me for at least a week. There are a million ways this project could have failed, so full credit to Denis Villeneuve for translating a difficult story to the screen so elegantly.

[@LiamLivesOn]

Arrival personally is my favourite film of the entire decade and essentially a perfect movie.

[@reelstellar]

This movie isn’t talked about enough. I think the more I watch it the more incredible it gets. This script is phenomenal and then it’s paired with great acting, visuals, and direction and it makes for a wonderful movie. It’s a slow movie but I’m so invested through the whole thing

[@dylankerr2411]

Hilarious that you seem to be experiencing this movie non-linearly. You watched it years ago but are only now discovering it, and then in three days time you figure out the canary in the coal mine! Fascinating!

[@joshuaoehler5796]

This might be my favorite movie of all time, certainly in the top 5. To me, the acting in this movie (particularly by Amy Adams) is phenomenal. Are there bravura moments of histrionics and passion, the sorts of scenes we see in Oscar nomination clips? No. But, to me, that's why it's so good. The subtlety and nuance that Amy Adams brings into every scene, in the way she spoke and moved, every micro-expression that flitted across her face, made Louise Banks feel absolutely like a real, fully-realized person, not just a character with lines and moments. I have not lived the kind of life that Louise did, but I felt every feeling she had, straight to my core. 10/10.

[@johncourtright1632]

Wow! Joshua! Thank you for saying exactly what I was thinking and feeling!! (You saved me so much time and energy! 😊) I agree wholeheartedly with every word you said! This film is in my Top 5 of all time as well! Amy Adams should have been nominated for Best Actress and won! I have watched this film so many times, and I cannot see how her acting could have been improved in any way! Subtlety and nuance was called for... and was absolutely delivered! 10/10

[@tlabd9582]

the bird is for alerting oxygen levels and toxic fumes. coal miners used them a lot. hence the term "canary in a coal mine" came from

[@AaronRenOlson]

It’s the literal “canary in a coal mine.”

[@AL-fl4jk]

*used. They don’t use canaries anymore lol

[@FelipeTempestad17]

I really don't know where I get the info, but I did know even from little kid that miners used canaries to alert them from toxic fumms, and seeing a lot of reactors don't knowing anything about it makes me laugh every time about their clueless and crazy theories about the canary 😂😂

[@MetastaticMaladies]

@@FelipeTempestad17 Yeah, I remember learning this as a very young child in school, I remember there was a picture book to help teach English, and canary in a coal mine was one of the idioms. It’s so weird how many reactors have never heard it before, it’s really quite shocking, as it’s one of the most commonly used idioms in the U.S., I could understand if they weren’t American or their first language wasn’t English, but funny enough, they seem to know it more than the English speaking Americans. So odd.

[@Alvin-1138]

We're old, or have older parents.😂 I think also some of it city dweller vs rural?

[@wurfel26]

“On the Nature of Daylight” is such an amazing piece by Max Richter. I love it since i heard it in Shutter Island

[@mitchvoigt2907]

A while back, I did a little deep dive on the theme and learned that it’s written as a musical palindrome. The comment in the film about using both hands to write a sentence reminded me that this music writes the same forward and back.

[@Reevnar]

I absolutely loved this movie. I watched it without seeing any of the trailers and only knew it had something to do with alien first contact. The slow build up of the first time Louise goes into the ship and sees the aliens had me on the edge of my seat. This movie, Sicario, and Blade Runner 2049 cemented Denis Villeneuve as one of my all time favorite directors.

[@trhansen3244]

I am the opposite. Villeneuve is an awful director.

[@NicoLodge]

​@@trhansen3244May I ask why?

[@cloudstone123]

I went digging for what she said to the general and it was really good. 'General, I'm at the American Base. Your wife came to me in a dream. She said you should rely on aspiration and inspiration, Depend on courage and help save the world. War does not make heroes. Only leaves behind orphans and widows.'

[@LightningRaven42]

One of the best aspects of this movie is that how it plays with the language of cinema itself. A movie about language that manipulates the metalinguistics of its own media to play on our own assumptions and to subvert it later on. So damn good. We know how a flashback sequence is supposed to look like and how it's edited. We just assume that Dr. Banks is just mourning her child. In a way, she kinda is, because she's having these "memories" that trigger feelings she isn't supposed to have. I suspect she comes to understand it better in the future and separate her "now" from her memories of her life.

[@joshuaoehler5796]

"Now" only exists as "now" if you have a strictly linear view of time. The deeper Louise goes into Heptapod, the more her "now" is any and all parts of her life.

[@AngeloBarovierSD]

@@joshuaoehler5796”Now” can certainly exist without a strictly linear concept of time provided time is itself strictly linear. The understanding of “now” relies on temporal relativity, yes, but it is theoretically possible to comprehend both the passage of time and our perception across time. Events are sequential. This is factual. If we introduce the concept of non-sequential -perception_ (loosely: memories of events yet to occur) then the question of contemporaneous perception may be called into question (ie.: would we know what “now” is?), which is where your statement explores. However, since there is no data regarding such a perception, we live in a state of theory. Ergo, it is theoretically possible to understand and perceive the breadth of time throughout our lives without losing awareness of “now”, as does the main character - or more definitively the audience. Most revealing is the focus on her choices. We cannot choose without awareness of consequence. Therefore we (she) must be cognizant of “now” or the events depicted are not choices, they are inevitability. Once we mix the mechanics of temporal theory with the philosophy of sentient consciousness, there are no clear answers about temporal perception. Moreover, it pokes at the oldest temporal mechanics question: Is the future decided by the consequences of choice or are our fates already written. No scientific principle has been able to answer this. We have only theory and postulation.

[@rapaz1997]

Louise Banks quickly became one of my favorite characters in all media. She willingly embraces all the good and bad of life knowing how it ends…

[@dday906]

Man, that plot twist STILL fucks me up! "Who is this child?" Lady, that's your....holy fuck...

[@axelfoley133]

The symbolism for the bird is pretty clear, Nat. The bird is brought into the room where gravity rotates gravity by 90 degrees. So every time the humans entered, the aliens were flipping the bird.

[@NatalieGoldReacts]

😂

[@piusdoe8984]

Bro 😂

[@wtimmins]

BEST ANSWER

[@hercules1476]

My best friend died when I was 15 and everything was so confusing and I felt so much despair over it I fell into a very self destructive path. This movie helped me a lot to understand my grief and see how much bigger my friend's life was. How valuable the time, however short, was with her. In the grand scheame time isn't as final and cruel as I thought it was. What she was will never disapear because I knew her.

[@bookjunk]

I remember some people online (of course, where else?) were very mad that Louise still decided to have her daughter, because that was selfish. And, yeah, you could interpret it that way, because she knows her daughter will get sick and die. On the other hand, her daughter has a wonderful life before the illness. Taking that away because of how it ends, could also be seen as selfish. I don't know. I feel like if you would ask people who are terminally ill if they'd rather not have been born, I don't think many of them would say yes to that.

[@ThomasReeves-s7u]

I have a congenital disability that has a noticeably elevated risk of death before age 10. (If you survive to thirteen you may have a normal lifespan, I'm 47 at present.) If I had died at ten I'd still say my life was worth it. I had joy and loved ones despite the pain.

[@bookjunk]

@@ThomasReeves-s7u Thanks for your response!

[@ThomasReeves-s7u]

@@bookjunk I worried I was being a tad overdramatic though. I have read rather contradictory information about how often we (osteogenesis imperfecta, type III I think) die in childhood. Still it is true that even though I had 200+ bone fractures in those ten years, and was hospitalized for pneumonia once, I was mostly happy. I mean I had fears and moments of sadness, but I could just be happy with the simplest stuff and largely enjoyed hospitalization because they had cable. Sometimes that confuses me now, but that's what it was.

[@markbartlett6287]

In the end, we are all terminal. It's up to each of us to make the most of our limited time here on Earth. Like Louise, I embrace every moment of it, though the great majority of mine is now behind me.

[@AshleyGarcia-ck2ki]

I’ll never forget seeing this in theaters and just being blown away by the twist. Couldn’t stop talking about the movie for like a month lmao saw it twice in theatres. Top 3 fav movies.

[@pichaelthompson]

For me, the most interesting part of this whole movie was explaining the Sapir-whorf theory. The idea that our language structure dictates how we approach and interact with the universe’s natural elements.

[@ilejovcevski79]

Dude, this film catches you off guard when you first time see it, yet, with every future viewing, you dive deeper and deeper into the subtle clues it provides from the very start. For me, this is the movie that toppled down Blade Runner from the number 1 on my all time SF movies list, and i don't see how something could change that in foreseeable future. It has everything in it that makes for a good SF story, exploring new ideas in an at least partially familiar setting that manages to seamlessly wave into the human condition, great performances all around, and near perfect technical execution, both visual and audio wise. Not to mention the direction....

[@drunkrat9041]

This is one of my favorite movies, and it only has become more so with time. I was floored to find out the english translation of the general's wife's dying words, which I'm told is "In war there are no winners, only widows." The writers could have chosen any phrase for his wife's dying words, because the audience could have just assumed that someone uttering a loved one's last words that only the intended receiver knows is reason enough to stop an instinctive decision. But the phrase itself adds so much more meaning!

[@webx135]

This was the first Villeneuve movie I had seen. Once it was revealed that he would be doing Dune, I got goosebumps from the news alone.

[@kylefoutz4920]

I spent 2 years in Brazil. 6 months after I got there I started dreaming in Portuguese. After I got back to the US, in 6 months my dreams switched back to English.

[@awareness007]

I hope you see a random bird in every movie, now and forever.

[@bantha7884]

This is Sci-fi at its best. A Crazy alien story that simply says live your life with love and communication.

[@JoePlett]

This is one film that's MADE for at least one rewatch. Due to the nature of the story, your first viewing is trying to puzzle it out - and your second watch is much more intense because you're fundamentally followinbg in the footsteps of the protagonist. The only other film that impacted me this way was Terry Gilliam's 12-Monkeys. They have nothing in common except that they're both initially baffling, ultimately mind-blowing story atcs.

[@diojiabunai]

The fact that our lead learned the Heptapod language granted her the ability to see the whole of her life without the filter of temporal proximity to any one event. She could live in whatever moments she chose. She chose them in spite of the heartbreak and tragedy. She truly understood love. Love can never truly be devoid of pain in the face of inevitable loss for most people. Few ever get to live a life in love without heartache. None the less, it's worth it.

[@gravedigger8414]

One word: Masterpiece! Denis Villeneuve is a genius! Watch ALL his movies. 🥰

[@andreym212]

Joker 2 ❎ Natalie talking to herself ✅

[@blaylock1978]

What I like about it is that the filmmakers did to the audience what the aliens did to Louise. At the beginning, they showed us the future and we were confused just like she was confused later on in the movie.

[@MetastaticMaladies]

I love this film, mostly because of my avid interest in linguistics but also because I love science fiction. But I’ve always been fascinated by the linguistic relativity principle, it’s such a cool and interesting concept, though I’m more inclined towards linguistic influence rather than linguistic determinism. Also how language is the gateway to higher thinking and cognition, how people who do not learn to speak after a certain age are permanently mentally stunted with a severe decrease in cognition versus those that do learn to speak. It shapes our minds so much more than people realize. It shapes how we group and interpret information, the structure a language can frame reality in different ways, offering different perspectives from how things are described, how time is understood or how space is navigated. It can shape thought patterns and behaviors through metaphors and cultural perception, aiding memory and recall, affects social identity and world view and can even allow some to be better or worse at identifying and differentiating subtle emotions. It’s just so fascinating!

[@xzonia1]

Love this movie! I've watched over a dozen people on KZbin now either react to this movie or give their analysis of this movie, and I never get tired of hearing what others have to say about it. That being said, I do not remember who said this point I'm about to bring up, so apologies to the excellent person out there who brought this to my attention. First, he said this movie, like the alien's language, cannot be fully understood unless it's viewed circularly ... meaning, once you see the film, you need to go back and re-watch it again immediately (or soon enough that the ending is still fresh in your memory) to fully understand Louise's journey. If you want to do that real quick before reading more, please go and come back. Lol Back? Okay. So you may have noticed his point on your second viewing. We know at the end of the movie that Louise hasn't had her kid yet, and in re-watching the film, you see the beginning where it appears she's mourning her daughter's loss ... yet we now know she isn't, so why is the beginning of the movie so tragic? This is to illustrate the fact that Louise is a person who's just drifting through her life. She doesn't really engage with the people around her. She teaches in this huge classroom, removed from her students. She leaves in a beautiful house clearly removed from the city and out on its own. She tells her mom on the phone she's the same as always; the arrival of the aliens has not impacted her emotionally at all. Louise is someone who is failing to engage with life. She's isolated and disconnected. The somber color grades are not for her memories of her daughter, but for her life that she's living right now. Her daughter is in color, vibrant and alive. So at the end of the movie when Louise chooses to have her, she's choosing to accept life for all its ups and downs, the good and the bad, and to truly live. She steps out of her blue existence and into a colorful, vibrant life. She is finally alive herself. I thought that was a really cool perspective on this movie, one I didn't catch because like Nat, I watched this movie once and then didn't watch it again until over a year later, so I still missed this point. It's a beautiful movie, but a heavy one, so I've never actually watched it twice within even a one year span of time over all these years. Lol. I keep thinking I will do that now, but I still haven't. But I point this out to anyone who wants to go through that journey and see this movie as not having a beginning, middle, and end, but as a circle that feeds in on itself. I enjoyed your reaction to this movie, Nat! Peace. :)

[@themothermarkos]

This is the earliest I've been to a video of yours and no regrets - fantastic film that is worth studying

[@ronbock8291]

I saw Logan’s Run, Star Wars, Flash Gordon, Alien and Blade Runner, all on opening day. That was a long time ago. This came out like last week.

[@alexandrat698]

The fact that she still decided to live her life the way it would go, with all the grief and the heartbreak, is so uplifting to me. Life is worth living even if it hurts. This idea and this movie really helped me when I was struggling with depression.

[@cacho100uva]

One of my favorite movies for sure. It's beautifully done, unique, emotional and heartbreaking both for Louise's choice of love and loss and for the message that I'm afraid humankind will never learn.

[@frikkinpenguin]

Language is such an interesting thing. English is my second language but it has taken over major parts of my life, beginning when I first began to learn it. Now, I‘m at a point where I only watch, read, write things in English and regularly think and even dream in it as well. The way it conveys a story is just so different from German to me, it’s hard to explain. For example, if you write the German word „wild“, it can translate into wild, savage, feral, fierce, ferocious, unruly and so much more, but all of those words convey different meanings that German nowadays seems so shallow to me, especially in shows or movies. There simply are too many things getting lost in translation that it impacts the way I experience a movie, even worse if it’s one I already know. When I‘m with my best friend, who’s well versed in English herself, my vocabulary would be described as „Denglisch“ here in Germany, a wild and unpredictable mixture of both.

[@donny-ni2zd]

As someone who appreciates languages and other cultures, (too much money for linguistics in school, and just not trying to get beat up on the block) this movie was amazing. The science nerd in me say before we talk to aliens, probably should learn cat, dog, dolphin, ants, more terrestrial talk. Then we gotta chance to talk to outside folk.

[@thedeepfriar745]

The music for this film. Was composed by Johann Johansson. Johannson’s final score was for a film called Mandy (2018) a psychedelic-horror revenge thriller, starring Nicolas Cage and Andrea Riseborough. I’d definitely recommend it especially for the Halloween season. Fair warning, the movie is absolutely wild

[@SteveNaranjo]

I would have loved to see (hear) Johann score in Dune, that would have been incredible.

[@markbartlett6287]

Not to take anything away from Johann Johansson's amazing score for this movie, but that soulful piece of music at the beginning at the end is actually Max Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight." Due to how it was used in this film, this old man sometimes gets misty eyed when it comes up in his playlist.

[@armchairgravy8224]

Denis really can deliver sci-fi, and the writers set him up for greatness. It's my favorite first contact movie because it's grounded and not spectacle for spectacle's sake. It's also a perfect example of Nietzsche's eternal return.

[@happyninja42]

Arrival was the movie that made me actually sit up and take notice of Denis as a director. I usually don't track or follow "celebrity directors", but after seeing this, and it having the same impact on me emotionally that The Fountain did (by Darren Aronofsky), I started to pay attention to him. When I heard later that he was doing Blade Runner 2049, it tweaked my radar, and THAT movie further solidified my love for his visual style of storytelling. How it speaks to me on a deeply emotional level. So then later when I heard he was doing Dune, I was definitely sold. This movie is one of those films, like The Fountain (for me at least), that you go in thinking it's about one thing, but then you come out the other side, having seen a completely different movie. A very human, emotional, intimate movie, that potentially changes the way you think about your life and living, and what it means to be human. I love this movie so much.

[@SteveNaranjo]

If you haven't seen "Incendies" yet, go and watch that one too😢

[@Cifer77]

I think Nat might be missing a very key detail to this plot.... *SPOILERS* Understanding the language didn't necessarily reveal to Louise that "time isn't linear", but it was that understanding specifically that changed her own perception of time so that to HER, it was no longer linear. The Language, WAS the "weapon", the tool. Understanding the language is what changed her mind to think differently, to understand time as a constant loop, not a linear path. Everyone else, people who don't understand how this language works, still perceive time as linear. "Time" isn't linear or constant, it's our perception of it that leads us to view it as linear or constant. I know most people will see this argument as semantics, but it's really not, there's a very important distinction here. Saying the understanding of the alien language reveals something that was hidden is like saying space ships get to space by going up. It's not wrong, but it's an oversimplification. The understanding of the alien language allows humans to think differently. This results in perceiving time differently. But this new method of thought implies so much more. Not just with "seeing your own future", but how you handle complex problem solving in general. Being able to work through a problem not just from the beginning, but from the end, from the middle, or with all points of data at once. This would unlock a whole new level of "genius".

[@robertcampbell8070]

It should be noted as well that the movie implies that she isn't simply "seeing" her own future, etc. but appears to be living it, inhabiting the moment as if she's never been there. Essentially, it appears she is able to be present and "exist" within any point on her personal timeline. She's not simply watching future events unfold, she's an active participant with agency. The difference between watching TV and being an actor in the program.

[@aikighost]

The short story delves deeper into this and how the aliens find certain science and mathematics we take for granted very difficult and vice versa because they don't really have a concept of "start state" and "end state" and we have to calculate movement and other parameters and how they change "over time" whereas this stuff is instinctive to them. One of the more interesting ideas Dr Banks comes to in the short story is also summed up in the sentence: "What if the experience of knowing the future changed a person? What if it evoked a sense of urgency, a sense of obligation to act precisely as she knew she would?" Dr. Banks realizes that the meaning of "free will" changes depending on the context in which it is uttered. She realizes that "heptapods are neither free nor bound as we understand those concepts". The heptapods are different from humans in that "their motives coincide with history's purposes". In other words, the decisions that they make align with the greater purposes of history.

[@HalkerVeil]

I can't tell you how many times I have to explain this to people. Movies like this have shown me there are levels to human existence and what we understand. Nothing to do with intelligence, we just live on different planes of understanding.

[@happyninja42]

the movie does address this near the climax. When the Chinese general says "I don't pretend to understand, how YOUR mind works." and then gives her the info she needs. It's very clearly showing that she is distinct from at least most of humanity (i assume by that point in the future at least SOME other people have learned the language) in how "her brain works". Reinforcing the idea that learning the language changed her way of seeing time.

[@HalkerVeil]

@@happyninja42 They also explained it when talking about the sapir-whorf hypothesis earlier. But I'm sure that was in one ear and out the other for some people.

[@steved1135]

Nice. I read the story by Ted Chiang this is based on back in 2003, and couldn't believe it was to be made into a movie. I was highly doubtful, but then heard Denis Villeneuve was involved. Genius. Bring on the tears. Easily one of the best movies of all time.

[@loudryka]

You never heard of the canary in the coal mine? Miners took them into the caves to test for oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. If the bird would die or faint they know they had to get out quickly

[@evanliu1939]

This film changed my life. It was this film that made me decide to major in anthropology back in college and grad school.

[@chrysalis46]

As a language major, I loved this movie and it kind of let me nerd out a little. I also thought the story had a beautiful meaning behind it and so overall it is one of my favorites!

[@martinholt8168]

Ted Chiang, the author of the original short story upon which this was based, is an amazing sf writer. Check out his excellent novella, THE LIFE CYCLE OF SOFTWARE OBJECTS, and the rest of his short stories in the collection STORIES OF YOUR LIFE.

[@MrUndersolo]

I remember seeing this in the theatre, and I just had to sit there for a while when it was done. Best science-fiction film I have seen in a long while...

[@cbyrne7609]

this and Contact are two of my fav sci-fi movies. the stories of both are fantastic, the human experience being tied into the sci-fi is done extremely well (how many sci-fi movies make you cry, really.), the music is fantastic, and the "leaps" being taken in science are believable, something that can quickly kill a bad sci-fi movie.

[@stijnvanrijsbergen8255]

This movie kicks ass - I read the short story it was based on ("Story Of Your Life" by Ted Chiang) recently and it's just such a seamless marriage of cosmic speculative fiction and innately human themes. (The story leans much harder on the existential complications of non-linear time and hard determinism and such - it's reeeeeally good sci-fi). Now to point EVERYONE who likes this movie (or just has had an existential crisis at ANY point in their lives) towards (just the smartest person on YT imo) CJ The X's 'Arrival: Time Is An Illusion' which goes so goddamn hard on the story's implications and how the themes arise from it. Just, SO goddamn hard. It's definitely helped me, to come to terms with the absurdity (but also the beauty) of our cosmic merry-go-round a bit more. Hugs to y'all. X

[@kiryukaimemorial]

I watched half this movie in the theater~ then took a nice nap. Never understood how much I missed until I sat down and watched it on my home theater. I think it makes for a perfect at-home theater experience, but the low thrums of the music and lack of high-tension energy lulled me to sleep. Jeremy Renner was unknown to me until I saw The Hurt Locker. I still think it's his best movie.

[@claudiaiwv7815]

Oh my... the first time I watched this I cried sooooo hard at the reveal. I just couldn't keep it in! So many emotions ....

[@jeffsherk7056]

This is one of my favorite movies. I love how Louise Banks is so smart, yet so calm and quiet all the time. I also love how different the Heptapods are from the 'usual' sci-fi aliens.

[@guitarminioriginals4840]

The music at the end is The Nature of Daylight by Max Richter

[@arwenwheeler9583]

He also composed the music for The Leftovers, which is incredible. One of my favorite modern composers

[@r.lyster8280]

In my opinion this is one of the very best sci-fi films ever made. Thanks for the video!

[@AImusicreactor]

OMG OMG OMG!!!! One of my FAVORITE KZbinrs doing one of my FAV movies of ALL time!!! I stopped this after 5 seconds. I'm going to save this for later today after work when I can relax, spark a bowl, and REALLY enjoy your reaction, which I KNOW is going to be BEYOND awesome (because I know this movie by heart, and know what you're in for and how much you'll love it... YAY!!! This inspires me to try to AI some of this soundtrack now (see my new AI music channel) Take care sweetie and THANK YOU for being on KZbin!

[@PerroneFord]

One of my fave films, and as a cinematographer, a great lesson from one of my favorite cinematographers! GORGEOUS film, well directed, and beautifully shot and constructed.

[@sandwiched]

When I saw this video pop up on my feed, I put off watching it because, like you, I hadn't seen this movie since I watched it when it first came out. All I remembered was the big alien room with the white barrier. I wanted to watch it with my wife this time around, and we finally had the chance recently. When it came to THAT moment, when Louise says, "I don't understand; who is this child?" my jaw dropped at the revelation, and didn't close for a good two minutes. SOO good.

[@kasraroyalblood8919]

This movie is amongst the best I've seen right along side PREDESTINATION and THE DISCOVERY

[@BarelyEinstein]

I like how if you put all 12 ships together, like segments of an orange, you get a shape that looks like a magnetic field, which in itself is a 3d circle. The goop they talk with looks very much like ferrofluid which is obviously super magnetic. I think magnetism is central to the aliens and everything they do.

[@kschneyer]

A lovely direction, Nat. Thank you. When this film came out, I was already a huge fan of Ted Chiang's story, "Story of Your Life" (1998), which was probably the best piece of SF short fiction of the late 20th century. So I was ready to be disappointed by the adaptation. But I wasn't: although no film could capture all the beautiful nuance of that story (and I really, *really* urge you to read it!), this film did as good a job as I think was possible. I think the flashbacks (flashforwards) were a marvelous device, and actually work reasonably well as a substitute for the tense-bending in the story.

[@StoriesThatSuck-pw1vi]

One of my favorite movies. The ending is so beautifully heartbreaking. Thank you for reacting to this one.

[@squiddyhs]

@Natalie, I popped in literally the moment I saw you'd reacted to this. I legit have a tattoo of one of the hetapod's logograms from this film; the one that deals with the linguistic concept of story and how it brings meaning to the brevity of life. My word, this is a *pillar* when it comes to good movies (and overall storytelling).

[@NoHandleGrr]

Incidentally, this movie is a pretty straight adaptation of the great writer, Ted Chiang's, story, THE STORY OF YOUR LIFE, which isn't very long, and can be found online by Google, though it is even better read by buying one of his couple of story collections and reading his other stories as well. He's one of the best writers in the English language and I do not exaggerate.

[@quor2243]

One of the best syfy movies of all time. In part because it wasn't about alien invitation that is typical with Hollywood, and it had believable science. So good, I watch this once and a while as there is a lack in quality syfy.

[@bobpat56]

I learned from a Mandarin speaker who saw the movie, the general's wife's last words were, "In war, there are no winners, just orphans and widows."

[@axr7149]

ARRIVAL is my #3 favorite film of the 2010s decade, surpassed only by THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014) (directed by Wes Anderson) and CLOUD ATLAS (2012) (co-directed by Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis) in that order. I love ARRIVAL's multi-layered screenplay, being simultaneously about the importance of communication and an emotional mother-daughter story. Amy Adams really deserves praise for her performance here in terms of facial and body language not spoiling the plot during the course of the film and having a foreboding sense of knowing in the scenes with her daughter. Shockingly, Amy Adams was NOT nominated for Best Actress Oscar for this despite the film getting almost every other eligible Oscar nomination (including Denis Villeneuve's only Best Director nomination to date) and even a win for Sound Editing. With all due respect to LA LA LAND and MOONLIGHT, I firmly believe that ARRIVAL is the movie that should've won Adapted Screenplay, Director and Picture (along with the not-nominated Amy Adams for Actress) that year instead.

[@uhskn9753]

you got good taste

[@themothermarkos]

Looooove Cloud Atlas - it seemed to go completely under the radar but it is magnificent.

[@chet8682]

nice to see some cloud atlas love

[@trhansen3244]

Arrival is one of the few movies I hate. I mean real hate. I really do HATE Arrival. It is easily the worst film of the last decade.

[@axr7149]

@@trhansen3244 Not everyone has to like everything, and that's okay. I for one hate GLADIATOR with a passion for example (the vibes rub me the wrong way no matter how much I try, on top of the off-putting cinematography) but I still plan to watch the sequel only because of Denzel Washington.

[@ByOdinsBart]

Finally, my favorite movie. I'm preparing to cry altogether with you on this.

[@t0dd000]

"Canary in the coal mine" seems to be an alien concept to a younger generation. Not sure why that is.

[@dongiovanni4331]

The children no longer yearn for the mines

[@likecrazyhorse]

This is one of those movies that I decided to watch on Netflix out of boredom. Didn't know I was going to watch one of the best sci-fi movies I've ever seen. This movie hit me the same way reading Dune in middle school did.

[@redviper6805]

One of Amy Adam’s best movies. I enjoyed it more than I expected to. Kind of reminded me of another classic sci-fi film: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Similar situation, only it’s one UFO and has a powerful robot that’s popular and unforgettable among other pop culture robots, such as R2-D2. Highly recommend watching that

[@connordirks]

This movie is insane. So freaking good. I cry every single time.

[@imnotayoshi8685]

Denis doing Sacario and then this back to back are what made me a fan of his. Blade runner cemented him in my mind as a perfect sci-fi visual director

[@SteveNaranjo]

Watch ...if you can "Incendies".

[@JohnDavidLiebling]

Nat, please consider the following films they are all excellent: 1. Awakenings based on a true story - Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro acting choices are unlike anything they've done before both against type. 2. Bicentennial Man - Robin Williams 1999 - two years before Chris Columbus directed the Harry Potter films. 3. The Fischer King - once again shows the great range of Robin Williams - many Nat tears. 4. Born Yesterday - staring the great Judy Holiday - in reality that Jewish lady had a very high IQ - but she played dumb brilliantly. 5. Altered States - 1980 - screen play Paddy Chayefsky - far ahead of its time - excellent science fiction and horror. 6. The Accountant - Ben Affleck, J.K. Simmons, and Ana Kendrick.

[@seantlewis376]

I saw this at the cinema when it came out. I was blown away, and when it was available for streaming, my girlfriend and I watched it again. Even when you know the story, it is a fascinating story.

[@robpolaris7272]

I love that they deal with a well known concept that the language you speak dictates how you think. Also learning a new language can alter how you think.

[@IndySidhu88]

Loved your reaction and one of my favourite films of all time. The General's wife’s last words are “In war there are no winners, only widows (or and orphans).”

[@hue.main1]

i really love the use of how miscommunication can really cause problems. That's why when you're unsure, you have to stay calm and try your best to completely understand the situation instead of assuming there's a threat. I never liked not knowing every side to a story before making up my mind on something. It really helps avoid unwanted messes.

[@abertoparaconferencia]

Nah, you can't convince me that you saw THIS MOVIE and DON'T REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT IT, EVEN THE TWIST

[@KarmaKahn]

Such an underrated movie. One of my favorite sci-fi films of all time. Great plot and wonderful acting.

[@apexcrab]

Probably my favourite sci-film of all time now, just a gorgeous film. Loving the movies you've picked recently!

[@thedarkknight2221]

One of the greatest and most ingenious sci-fi films ever made. Not only does it perfectly capture how first contact with an alien species would look and feel like today with everyone panicking both quietly and loudly, but it addresses something I always thought about but never saw done believably in movies. That it would be extremely difficult for humans and aliens to communicate. It’s why my favorite scene is during the montage of them trying to teach each other to communicate while Jeremy Renner is narrating just how intricate the process is.

[@Punkanova]

Ugh the music in this movie was so incredible

[@Starlightean]

What a pleasant surprise of movie choice! Villeneuve is just a master of dramatic atmosphere.

[@jeffgray7922]

One of Denis Villeneuve's greatest films and one of my favorite movies, ever.

[@MrBoulder96]

As soon as the twist was revealed tears were streaming down my face. Fantastic movie.

[@KevinLyda]

All any of us have is the journey. We all die eventually. If you have a kid, the kid will eventually die. The time we have together is just like any story - it has a beginning, a middle and an end. Usually the parents die and the child lives on, but it's still a finite time and eventually the child dies. Louise lives her life non-linearly which implies a level of determinism which excludes choice. But regardless, she was always going to have a finite time with her daughter; her daughter would always eventually die. That's true for all of us. She went in with eyes open more than most, yes, but in reality she made the same choice parents make: to create a life that will eventually die. That might seem depressing, but as Louise says, we can embrace the journey. That's ultimately what each of us have.

[@SelvesteSand]

Beautifully explained, Kevin.

[@MargoMB19]

YES I'm so glad you are doing this movie!! One of the last movies I saw in theaters with my mom and stepdad, I think it kinda went over mom's head but me and stepdad LOVED IT. I'm not generally a big fan of alien movies but the language-centered plot is just so interesting (and it's one of those movies that will stay in my mind for days, I really enjoy movies that can spawn a ton of thinking after it's over).

[@ExarchGaming]

this is one of my favorite sci-fi movies to come out in the last decade or so. I'm really sick of the big transformers high octane action sci-fi and definately crave the more intellectual cerebral type, that series like star trek really embodied. Arrival doesn't need a pre/sequel it stands on it's own as an amazing piece of commentary.