norwich36

I've been trying to save money lately so I haven't been going to the movies much, but after this week I really needed distraction, so I went to see "Arrival" largely on the basis of its rotten tomatoes score (as late as Monday it was at 100%, so I was curious), and wow, those critics were not wrong. It is absolutely fantastic--probably the most psychologically realistic alien encounter film I've ever seen, and it really just plops you down into Amy Adams (um, I mean Louise Banks') perspective and lets you feel what she's feeling the whole way through. It is not in any way the typical blockbuster alien-encounter film; it's very slow and quiet and unbelievably moving, and even things that might make you think you're being given a standard and somewhat trite emotional arc get completely reimagined by the end of the film.

It's all about the possibility of understanding the other (and ourselves), and about the nature of time and grief and memory and hope, and honestly I felt like it was the absolute perfect film to be watching in this week of despair. I highly recommend it.

I'm not up for really critically analyzing it yet--I'm still processing my emotional responses--but some spoilery comments on the ending after the cut. ( Read more... )