If there was one class I loathed having to take during my undergraduate years, it was Descriptive Linguistics. I had no particular beef with the subject matter, nor was I saddled with a horrible professor (in fact she was actually a very kind lady), it was a simple lack of connection to the act of studying language and sounds which didn’t interest me in the slightest. My lack of connection to the required course meant I had to study and work even harder to ensure that my GPA didn’t suffer and, more importantly, I still made the dean’s list. After succeeding in the above-mentioned efforts, I quickly proceeded to forget everything I had “learned.” It wasn’t until I sat down to watch the unbelievably poetic sci-fi drama Arrival that I finally understood the meaning behind the class I took, which examined the importance of languages and the strong power of connection which they posses.
Based on the short story by Ted Chiang, Arrival tells the story of a well-respected doctor of linguistics named Louise (Amy Adams), who is recruited by the military when alien spaceships land in various parts of the world. Working with a noted physicist named Ian (Jeremy Renner) and remaining under the watchful eye of Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker), Louise works to try and communicate with the aliens in an effort to find out what they’ve come to earth for.
The most surprising factor regarding Arrival is how much it says about not just language, but more specifically, the power of communication as a whole. There’s a great scene with Louise dissecting a sentence which asks the aliens what their purpose is. Louise refuses to ask the sentence as is, in spite of pressure from Weber and his superiors, until she can decipher whether the aliens can understand the meaning of the word “purpose,” or even the concept of the term “your” as signifying a collective species. Moreover, the scenes with Louise ripping off her containment suit so that the aliens can truly see HER says so much by doing so little. It is through those scenes, which show Louise teaching the aliens the concepts behind basic human words, that the audience sees how language truly transcends and connects.
Arrival will first and foremost be judged as a sci-fi offering, and it will not disappoint any genre fan who watches it. While it doesn’t spend a great amount of time catering to most of the stereotypes that other efforts such as Independence Day do, Arrival wears its genre proudly on it’s sleeve. The film contains a number of stunning effects which are sparsely and wisely used, making each one a true work of art. More importantly, the film maintains a sense of curiosity and wonder as we follow Louise on her relentless quest to discover what these beings want from humans. Ultimately, though, Arrival ends up saying more about humanity in terms of fear and knowledge than it does about the aliens themselves. What sets Arrival apart most of all is how those behind the film have managed to take a story and give it moments which feel grand in scale, but also deeply personal and intimate.
For her part, Adams further deepens the already deep film and gives it an added level of poignancy, showing she can bring insight and pathos to any genre of film she finds herself in. Likewise, Renner is fantastic in one of the most down-to-earth roles of his career, which affords him the chance to display a kind of sensitivity many of his other parts haven’t. Whitaker is solid as usual by displaying tough leadership but also an open mindedness with regards to Louise. If there’s any sour note in the film’s cast, it’s Michael Stuhlbarg as the head of defense. Stuhlbarg finds himself saddled with a role which remains largely colorless and requires so little of him that the usually fantastic actor doesn’t even register until midway through the film.
In terms of execution, Arrival can simply do no wrong. The film’s pace is gentle enough to let the audience soak up every event as it happens, yet never lingers. There’s a surprising amount of humor in the fantastic script which never underwrites the emotional weight of the story. Even the somewhat large number of revelations which more or less comprise the film’s final act, don’t feel forced or phony, but rather greatly elevate the beautiful literary feel Arrival maintains throughout. All of these elements and more contribute to making Arrival not just a great sci-fi cinematic experience, but also a sensitive, thoughtful comment on connection and one of the best films of the year.
Originally published at cinapse.co on November 11, 2016.
