There are days that define your story beyond your life. Like the day they arrived.
On the week Donald Trump gained the White House and half the world despaired, comes a movie that pits love against paranoia to memorable effect. What are the odds?
Aliens have landed - or rather they're hovering, like big ultra-cool surround-sound speakers, all over the globe. Amy Adams plays Louise, a linguistics expert who's called in by the US military to attempt communication with the ship suspended above Montana. The question everyone wants answered is an obvious one: what is the reason behind their visit?
If you know your big-screen science fiction, you'll appreciate that the options are limited - (1) to share knowledge and understanding, (2) to teach us lessons vital to our survival, (3) to incinerate us all starting with our national monuments. Teamed with theoretical physicist Ian (a winsome Jeremy Renner), Louise must don a radiation suit and brave all the terror of the unknown to find out which one they have in mind. Meanwhile the world goes mad - as politicians deliberate, armies manoeuvre and radio shock-jocks rant. Time is running out.
Arrival revisits familiar storytelling territory, but does it with an intoxicating combination of fear and wonder, like nothing I've seen before. The extra-terrestrial visuals are unique - stark but beautiful, awe-inspiring without being flashy - while the film's soundscape draws you in completely with its otherworldly weirdness. The leads both have their minds convincingly blown as they investigate; my eyes were widening with theirs and I was doing that leaning-in thing you save for when a movie's truly got you in its grip. Adams in particular impresses, much of the drama playing out on her face, as the bizarre experience unfolds. Her neatly sketched back-story contributes to the insight she has into the visitors' motives, adding a whole other emotional layer to the story.
So - what is it with Amy Adams and films you need to see more than once? First Nocturnal Animals and now this. Arrival tantalizes its audience from the beginning, cranking up mystery and suspense while dropping clues that will only make sense at the astonishing, unforeseeable conclusion. It's a gradual but gripping ride, keeping global implications in view, while remaining intensely personal throughout.
This is science-fiction with a beating heart, where one woman's linguistic and emotional intelligence takes on forces of ignorance and fear. A story for our times, and hopefully prophetic of future ones. Oh, and Sheena Easton gets an unexpected mention. Listen out for that.
No comments:
Post a Comment