Art imitates life is something I firmly believe. Films, even those based in science fiction, deliver some sort of metaphor that can be applied to our daily lives. Denis Villeneuve has built a career on delivering these moralistic lessons or reminders that we know are based in some sort of societal truth. While their message may seem more obvious in his past films, Arrival is still full of parables that highlight our pasts and how it still affects our present.
Denis Villeneuve shows a masterful restraint in almost every one of his films. He feeds us information as if we were a bird, being lured into his trail of breadcrumbs hoping to find a big reward at the end. Films like Incendies deliver on that promise, but his more recent films, like Enemy and Prisoners, never supply an apt reward for the painstaking journey we were put through. Villeneuve lays out a seemingly modest tale that quickly evolves and evolves until it becomes something altogether unexpected. His visual style is striking in how simple it is, taking textures and designs we have encountered before and elegantly re-purposing them into believable alien tech. His approach and technique is enough to calm any worries people may have initially had with his upcoming work in the Blade Runner franchise.
Horror writer Eric Heisserer does what he hasn't been able to do with his past films, with the slight exception being Lights Out. He develops fully realized characters around the supernatural/extraterrestrial occurrences and not the other way around. Too often do sci-fi and horror films throw humans into the fray of some incident and end up developing the opposing force or creature more than the human characters this is happening to. Arrival focuses on the human element emphasizing how the arrival of these new beings affect society. Heisserer uses this alien threat as a way to shine a mirror on society that ends up reflecting current events.
We will no doubt receive the devastating news of who will be the next president of the United States. Now more than ever we can see just how blatant of a problem xenophobia and fear-mongering has become. We have been dragged into wars based solely out of fear that has been spread with the intent of blinding us from reason. This election was won because of the fear-mongering against illegal immigrants with non-white skin colors. Villeneuve chooses a story that mirrors our society perfectly and has the unintended effect of being twice as relevant thanks to this past election.
The film’s pacing is steady and ponderous, slowly picking up as our understanding of the incident increases. This film remains a mystery until close to end, where it blends several different elements of sci-fi feeling almost like a Vonnegut novel. At no point does the film try to inundate you with made up terms or overcomplicated gadgetry, which adds to the subtle and relatable experience. It also gives the morality of the film a chance to breathe and infect the story by genuinely showing how fear leads to hatred like we have seen it happen not only historically but also recently.
With her performance in Arrival and the upcoming Nocturnal Animals, Amy Adams is on the shortlist for an Oscar nomination. She commands the screen in this film by embodying the very best of humanity. Her character is meant to represent the uncompromising idealism, unbridled optimism and the incorruptible sense of empathy all of humanity should have. As the hero of our story, she understands the sacrifices she needs to make in her personal life for the greater good. Her character is the hope and example we currently need in our society, and Adams plays this role with all the poise and nuance we’ve always known she was capable of.
Arrival is unapologetically lead by a female character. Of course performances by Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker are an asset to the film, but the film’s message has a subtle pro-female one. Adam’s character studies languages, and as such is more interested in understanding a culture instead of taking it over. Learning another language is itself is an implicit act of peace and compromise because you wouldn’t bother learning the language of someone you were just going to annihilate or destroy. Aside from the natural peacekeeper, Adam’s character is also a maternal figure, trying to guide the humans and the visitors as if they were battling siblings. In a world run predominantly by men, the film posits that we need a female touch and I happen to agree.
Arrival offers a subtle sci-fi journey for those who grow weary of the CGI- and jargon-heavy films that the average person finds hard to relate to. Although the complex us of space and time principles may be a turn-off to the average viewer, this film offers an allegorical look at our own history and current events. Arrival is unlike any film we have seen this year, but it offers a lesson we should have learned from centuries ago.
Quality: ★★★★★ (5/5 stars) Queerness: ★★★★ (4/6 Kinseys) There is an undeniable political message in this film that was completely intended to shine a light at the way our society treats immigrants and minorities, but recent events have made this message ring louder than it could have ever hoped for. Creating and focusing on the strong female character as she has to navigate this male dominated world was refreshing and a much needed representation not only in film, but also sci-fi where females are really only made into hypersexualized femme fatales.