I grew up on Star Trek (of course) which depicted an idea that humanity will eventually come together for betterment of the planet. Their turning point was the arrival of aliens, their first contact as they called it.
I always loved this idea, that we needed the shock to the system of the news we weren’t alone. That we could think beyond the petty differences and open our eyes and mind wider than ever before.

I was reminded of this idea during Arrival but it’s a much more personal story than what’s come before in this genre. Instead of focusing on the world as a whole reacting to the arrival we experience it much more intimately with our lead Amy Adams.

The film opens to the beautiful yet sombre ‘On the Nature of Daylight’ by Max Richter a piece of music that has been used in a few films previously but only in Arrival did I feel it fitted best. We follow a broken looking Adams as she becomes wrapped up in the mission to communicate with the aliens. You could easily assume that our main character is chosen so she can have an eureka moment that wills her on to solve the puzzle of the language but these sequences are very carefully paced, there are no a eureka moments that come out of nowhere, each discovery is earned through long passages of time and arduous work. As you settle into the film you can’t help but get comfortable with an idea of how it will all play out. I sat there with all the hype talk in my head and while I was enjoying what I was watching very much I also believed I already knew what the rest of the run time would show me.
Then the film gave a hint of something bigger and all of a sudden it was clicking for me and I leaned forward a little as I started to realise there was something much more to this alien visitor film.

I don’t want to spoil this film in the slightest as to do so would rob you from what could be a highlight cinema experience this year but suffice to say Arrival is utterly heart-breaking yet hopeful all at the same time.
The plot has the humans continually ask the aliens “What is your purpose here on Earth?”, a question of real importance to them, but the real question the film ultimately asks is what is humanity’s purpose on Earth.
We get a very personal answer to this and it’s revealed to us in such a way that both the characters on screen and we the audience have to open our minds a little more than normal to fully understand.
It’s a film that stays with you on your way home as you unravel all those hints and marvel how they connected so perfectly. The more time I spent mulling this film over I kept finding a new layer, a new thing it was doing yet while I was watching it, it was all so effortless on screen.

Arrival is a film that seems so simple on first look but is all tied together with all the strings of complicated sci-fi (if you go looking) and has an emotional slow burn that reminded me so often of my all time favourite Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
It was exquisite cinema.