On the outset, Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival is just like any other alien invasion flick. The BIG difference however, is that it appears to take those generic seeds to ask really big, frightening questions about who we are, opting for a dissection of language and cultural discourse. I love the idea of this alien encounter turning humans against each other just on the basis of our own fear of working together. That, in itself is a damning thought, but frighteningly enough, one that doesn’t seem foreign in today’s climate of fear and self-centered action.
November 11th can’t come soon enough – I think this is really going to be one of the year’s best.
SG
