The Tapestry of Life in ARRIVAL

Denis Villeneuve is a director on the rise (Sicario) with Arrival which reinvigorates the science fiction genre with this tale of an unknown alien presence, the memory of personal loss, and possibilities of reality.  Amy Adams (in an Oscar worthy performance) is outstanding as the language expert called in to help communicate with an ominous, humongous vessel that has also appeared in locations around the Earth. As global tensions and fear mount and military aggression is imminent, Adams desperately attempts to understand the visitors’ true purpose even as she makes a powerful, personal discovery. Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker lend strong support, and the film is beautifully shot and eerily scored. The DNA of this film comes from The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Contact, and Inception. Deliberately paced and at first ambiguous, what begins as an intergalactic codebreaking mystery morphs into a thoughtful, heartfelt allegory of human connection.

**** of **** stars