Playing with Time and Space

Review: Arrival (2016)

By Claire Lustig

“If you knew your whole life, would you change it?”

As succinctly brought up by Sara during our discussion, this is the basic question that Arrival asks its audience. The film follows language expert Dr. Louise Banks (played by should-be Oscar winner Amy Adams) as she learns the language of an alien species called the heptapods, as well as gaining their relationship with time. Simultaneously (or is it), we are shown the tragic story of Louise and her daughter, Hannah. In any science fiction film, time travel is used as a convenience to get characters from one place and time to another. In Arrival, time travel is used in a way that is unique and deeply personal. The story of Louise and her daughter is inseparable from the story of the heptapods.

Denis Villeneuve, in what I believe is his best work, makes a lot of really interesting choices. The blue coloring and cinematography add to the mysterious and melancholic tone of the film. The design of the heptapods is distinctly alien without them being impossible to connect with (naming them Abbott and Costello is also a great touch). Jóhann Jóhannsson’s score is unfamiliar and immersive in a way that truly adds to the experience of watching this film. And, of course, no movie can go wrong with using Max Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight (its most recent notable use being The Last of Us episode 3). Overall, this film is a technical marvel.

However, what really makes Arrival unique is the way that it makes you feel when watching it. Even after two watches, I find this feeling to be very difficult to describe, but I have a feeling that others who have seen this film know exactly what I mean. This feeling could not be better represented than by the twist, and the choice that it leads Louise to make. Without spoiling the film, Louise’s answer to the opening question of this review is no.