Arrival is based on one of the great science fiction short stories of the last 20 years. Arrival is intimate and cerebral, built on strange and fascinating ideas about human and alien nature, and yet never short of awe-inspiring. It’s one of the best movies of the year, and one of the best science fiction movies ever made and it’s a reminder the deep and rare pleasures of literary science fiction films.
Like the story it is based on, however, Arrival is most definitely “s.f.” It’s measured and patiently paced, with stunning low-light photography and dialogue that doesn’t shy away from technical explanations.
And, like the best science fiction shorts, it prioritizes inventive use of language and ideas, using them to make a point or elaborate on a concept. They work almost like the literary equivalent of mathematical proofs, explaining an idea and then demonstrating how it might work, or what you might conclude from it.
