Arrival (2016)

My poor dad wasn't feeling well enough to come watch this with me. I suppose I could've waited another week for him, but I've been getting antsy to see the most talked-about Academy Award nominees and hadn't given much thought to Lion yet. In retrospect, La La Land, which he's already seen, would've been a better choice, but I keep feeling reluctant: Ryan Gosling hasn't been in many movies I like, and Damien Chazelle is best known for something that disturbs me. Had I noticed that Arrival was directed by the ever-disturbing Denis Villeneuve, the latter reason wouldn't have worked for me.

Giant alien ships land at twelve seemingly random points far apart on Earth. U.S. Army Col. Weber (Forest Whitaker) invites renowned language professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) to translate messages from the two known aliens at the U.S. landing site. Unable to work remotely, she comes to meet them face to...face?...and slowly learn their reason for visiting -- hopefully before someone in power jumps to the wrong conclusion. Her biggest help in the endeavor is Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), who's more partial to science than language, but that doesn't stop the obvious signs of a budding romance.

I might as well tell you that these are among the least humanoid aliens I have ever seen, at once daunting and somehow reassuring. That always wins points with me. Humans call them Heptapods, not to be confused with septopodes. Their communication is very different as well. We never learn how they "write" exactly, but it produces largely circular designs, which is a hint of how they see things.

Maybe the experience gets immersive in the theater, or maybe there's just something oh so infectious about the fictitious excitement of first contact, no matter how many times I see it on screen. I found myself getting caught up in the fright and awe of the characters. The rioters were still wicked idiots to me, but I had no trouble believing in them. Movies have a way of making me fear the consequences of an ambiguous or downright peaceful E.T. visit more than a straightforward invasion.

While the thrills largely come down to paranoia, the drama stems chiefly from Louise having lost a preteen daughter to cancer. Time and again, something in the present brings forth a memory from motherhood, which stymies her. These "flashbacks" border on hallucinations, but we come to understand them as something else. Let's just say the personal trauma is not merely a gratuitous impediment to the important project. I can only imagine that many of the men around her, however cognizant of her linguistic abilities, secretly see her as weak. They'd be wrong.

Smartly written? By Hollywood standards, yes. I rolled my eyes when Louise repeated the urban legend of the etymology of "kangaroo," but at least she privately admitted its inaccuracy. Sometimes I thought the non-linguists with whom she had to deal were a little too ignorant. Then I reminded myself that language is a strong suit of mine (tho I'd be hard-pressed to do half of what Louise does), so I shouldn't expect as much from military officers. If things are dumbed down a tad, that may actually have worked to my advantage: I didn't feel a need to peruse the FAQ on IMDb, like for many a Christopher Nolan piece. All I needed was some patience.

This is not to say that things never get bizarre, beyond the surface nature of the Heptapods. The plot relies heavily on the theory that our language affects our general understanding of how the universe functions and that this can be altered by learning new languages. The result in this case amounts to a Dr. Manhattan-like superpower. Such an idea annoyed me when I read Stranger in a Strange Land, but at least here it doesn't feel like juvenile wish fulfillment to me; it makes a big difference for how the story plays out. I can respect it without subscribing to it.

Overall, it's nice. I wouldn't have pegged it for an Oscar nominee, but I hadn't pegged Mad Max: Fury Road either, and that took six trophies. People are wishing Adams got a nod; I think she's good as usual but not a total standout. It may be hard to judge, since she spends only a little time dwelling on her daughter and more time in a situation no one has ever been in.