Arrival

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  • Arrival

    Love this director. The film had a good degree of elegance and reserve to it.

    SPOILERS AHEAD -- massive ones. Seriously do not scroll down if you don't want the movie to be absolutely spoiled.
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    * I'm hiding my questions anyway, so no one will be pissed. Highlight to see them below:

    I'm confused. Was the dead daughter a flashback or a flash-forward? At first I thought it was a flashback, and that's why Louise/Amy Adams was so internal and fragile feeling, because she was lost in a haze of grief from the beginning of the movie.

    Then, towards act three I thought the daughter's death was a flash-forward. She knew their daughter would die, but was going to hook up with Ian/Jeremey Renner anyway. BUT THEN she said, in voice-over, that it "felt so good to be held by him again." WTF? Again, implies they were already together before they met up to investigate the aliens -- and had gotten divorced, and their daughter had already died.

    The "do you want to make a baby?" at the very end could be another baby (because their daughter had already died) or it could mean the dead daughter baby. So if it could mean either, which was it?



    ETA: Okay, I found my answer here. Highlight to reveal link: http://www.vulture.com/2016/11/arrivals-twist-is-more-than-a-surprise-ending.html


    But the opening scenes still make no sense to me, then.
    Last edited by figment; 11-12-2016, 08:17 AM.

  • #2
    Re: Arrival

    I don't have the energy to say much, but the movie was fantastic. If you like sci fi and don't see this in theaters, you're making a mistake.

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    • #3
      Re: Arrival

      Okay, figment, I haven't watched the movie, but I have read the spec script. Below are my comments to your questions as I remember them. Hopefully, they help explain it.

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      Comments: I haven't seen the movie yet, but I have read the spec script that sold. So, the daughter's death that we see in the beginning is a set-up to make us think it's a flashback, but it never was a flashback it was always a flash forward because the aliens gave her the ability to see her entire life all at the same time, just like they experience it and is why they are dying out. They've come to break the cycle of their entire life cycle by choosing a different path than the known path.

      We the audience don't know that she's seeing her whole life cycle until later in the movie. The reason she says "if felt so good to be held by him again, is because she has already remembered all the moments that will come. When the aliens say, "you still made the same choice even though you know what would happen," is speaking to the fact that before she even meets Ian she knows she what will happen. She will have this experience, they will get married, they will have a child, she will die, and they will divorce. The reason he divorces her is because she TELLS him she knew their daughter would die before they ever met. Her entire life is a circle, just like how the aliens life and writing is. At one point in the script she begins to write the beginning and end of the sentences, indicating that she knows both how it will start and how it will end at the same time.


      I cannot wait to see this film, the cinematography looks amazing.
      "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy b/c you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -- Edward Snowden

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      • #4
        Re: Arrival

        It was amazing. The screenwriter invited a bunch of writers & friends to attend an Arclight screening yesterday, which he kicked off by introducing the movie.

        Very happy for him. This is a see-in-the-theatre movie for sure. Glad it's doing well.
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        Script consulting still going strong.

        Details and updates here, as always: http://messageboard.donedealpro.com/...ead.php?t=9901

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        • #5
          Re: Arrival

          finalact4 -- THANK YOU. The opening scenes really threw me for a loop. I actually want to watch it again now, because then I'll be able to absorb so much more of it, rather than my mind racing ahead to try and figure stuff out.

          I'm loving this director's versatility. And yes, the cinematography was amazing.

          The one thing that did not come across in the finished movie, as opposed to what you must've read in the script was (SPOILER, highlight):
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          that they are dying out because of their ability to see their entire life, or that they as a group are dying out at all.

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          • #6
            Re: Arrival

            I thought it was just so beautiful, from the writing on up. When we walked out of this movie on Saturday, my husband turned to me and just said, "What am *I* doing, if there are people out there who can make something like that?"

            And I guess I'll continue the invisible conversation in invisible ink, if that's what we're doing...

            The heptapods say that they will need the help of the humans in 3000 years, so they're here to help the humans now so that they'll be ready to save them in the future. That could be breaking a pattern for them, or it could just be doing what they know they have to do for the future (the latter seemed more likely to me).

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            • #7
              Re: Arrival

              I saw it and I really did like the mindtwist concepts that were introduced, but otherwise the movie was kind of boring.

              Can you name any situation where there was a challenge for the protagonist that she had to overcome by herself, without the solution being handed to her?
              And I mean a "real" challenge, not like explaining why do we need to teach them grade-school language basics first.

              Acting was good, visuals were interesting, the mindtwist concepts really cool, but overall it was still somewhat boring from a storytelling perspective.

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              • #8
                Re: Arrival

                It's an intelligent movie, but I thought it was a little slow.

                I also didn't like the military characters, who came across as stupid, unnecessary and predictable. It was like the producers decided it was too cerebral and needed guns and explosions and artificial tension. Shame, as otherwise it was very thoughtful and moving.
                TimeStorm & Blurred Vision Book info & blog: https://stormingtime.com//

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                • #9
                  Re: Arrival

                  I didn't have a problem with the military in the movie. Made perfect sense that they would be involved. If aliens arrive like they did in the movie, the military will be the one to administer access and handle first contact.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Arrival

                    Originally posted by thornmane View Post
                    I didn't have a problem with the military in the movie. Made perfect sense that they would be involved. If aliens arrive like they did in the movie, the military will be the one to administer access and handle first contact.
                    No problem with that aspect. Just that they were portrayed as being so dumb.
                    TimeStorm & Blurred Vision Book info & blog: https://stormingtime.com//

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                    • #11
                      Re: Arrival

                      Originally posted by figment View Post
                      finalact4 -- THANK YOU. The opening scenes really threw me for a loop. I actually want to watch it again now, because then I'll be able to absorb so much more of it, rather than my mind racing ahead to try and figure stuff out.

                      I'm loving this director's versatility. And yes, the cinematography was amazing.

                      The one thing that did not come across in the finished movie, as opposed to what you must've read in the script was (SPOILER, highlight):
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                      It might actually be a very subtle statement in dialogue that could get missed, I think. If you watch it a second time, I suspect you might find it-- I'll be seeing it Friday night, so I'll check it out, too.
                      "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy b/c you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -- Edward Snowden

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Arrival

                        Has anyone read the short story that it's based on?
                        "I was dreamin' when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray." - Prince

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                        • #13
                          Re: Arrival

                          Love Eric H., the screenwriter. wanted to love Arrival too but unlike, say, Close Encounters, it didn't leave me with the same sense of awe or wonder.

                          and as with The Martian last year, i was less interested in the science of the problem (linguistics) than the emotional relationship between Louise and the aliens. but because of the language barrier, they never seem to make a felt connection.

                          also not sure about how the whole twist is supposed to work. does learning the heptapod's language itself give anyone the ability to see into the future? that seems spectacularly dangerous to give to a whole planet. and even if it's only Louise who somehow has this special power, she still wants to have Hannah knowing for certain that she'll die a horribly painful death very young? ooookay . . .

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                          • #14
                            Re: Arrival

                            Originally posted by JoeBanks View Post
                            and even if it's only Louise who somehow has this special power, she still wants to have Hannah knowing for certain that she'll die a horribly painful death very young? ooookay . . .
                            Man this is a tough tough one. I thought about this for days after. But having experienced my kids now, ugh, I don't even want to go there. I would want as much time with them as I could have but I dunno, is this just selfish? I mean the little girl went through pain. In any case, I left the theater crying into my palms as my wife steered me out the back exit lol. I liked the film a lot but probably couldn't see it again.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Arrival

                              I didn't respond to this on any level. I was bored from the get-go. I also have this pet peeve about aliens coming and not being able to speak any Earth idiom -- I'm sorry, you have giant space ships and can time travel but you don't have devices that pick up all our tv/radio broadcasts, thus allowing you many, many, many, many years to study us? Aren't our broadcasts on their way to Proxima Centauri or something? What, no linguists in your mega advanced society? I had same beef w Close Encounters (which I loved, despite that logic prob).

                              The reveal of her mind powers came from out of nowhere and wrapped everything up in an unsatisfying/wtf way. Reading this thread I apparently missed something but I am fine with that. I am not crazy about the director. Sicario was totally unfocused and bored me to ribbons.

                              Signed,

                              Sour and Sassy in Saskatoon

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