Denis Villeneuve again (see my Blade Runner 2049 review). Arrival is perhaps the best science fiction film of the last decade.
Based on Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life,” it’s a film about language, time, and grief. Amy Adams delivers a career-defining performance as linguist Louise Banks.
The film’s structure mirrors its themes in ways that only become clear on second viewing. It asks: if you knew how things would end, would you still choose to begin?
Like Slaughterhouse-Five, it treats time as something fluid, something we experience rather than simply move through.