Arrival

"One day, a dozen giant spaceships – each about 450 metres tall, and looking as if they were designed by surrealist H.R. Giger in a sunnier mood – land (or more accurately, hover) across the Earth. Naturally, the world’s armed forces believe them to be a threat and the planet verges on chaos. But once a day, the ships open up to allow for visitors – and that’s where the story takes its first turn.

"Certain factions in the military believe the aliens to be friendly, or at the very least diplomatic, and recruit Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a grief-stricken linguist, to develop a line of communication with the 'heptapods.' Along for the ride are theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), a clear-headed but gruff colonel (Forrest Whitaker) and a CIA agent (Michael Stuhlbarg) who might have a more sinister agenda in mind.

"To detail much more would cheat the film of its narrative puzzle – calling it a mere 'twist' would be to diminish its significant accomplishments – but it is easy to say that director Denis Villeneuve and screenwriter Eric Heisserer (working from a short story by Ted Chiang) have created something that no one has ever quite seen.

"At times pointedly sombre, and at other moments dizzyingly surreal, Arrival is shot with both a compassionate and calculating eye, something that’s become Villenueve’s stock in trade ever since his early days helming dark Québécois dramas (Maelstrom, Polytechnique, Incendies). Yet, it’s also the director’s most confident work to date, one that finds him both in full control of complicated visuals (the heptapods and their ships are remarkably original in concept, yet not so inconceivable as to be truly 'alien') and a powerhouse cast doing the best work of their careers (Adams deserves every award the industry offers)." - Globe & Mail