My jaw dropped when George mentioned the Aliens might not speaking in a "linear" fashion. It's exactly what this movie is about and literally the very first scene is Amy Adams going in that circle way.
I love this movie. Finally a science fiction involving aliens without the usual confrontation and violence. Smart science fiction beautifully showed. I wish there were more like this. Amy Adams knocked it out of the park and the ending still messes me up despite knowing what's coming. Denis Villeneuve definitely knows how to tell a story and surround himself with amazing talent. I love this movie.
Yes honestly. The whole "aliens kill us all" and "machines kill us all" is such a tired Hollywood trope. I think Transcendence was an under appreciated science fiction flick too.
agreed...Denis Villeneuve did a fantastic job of interpreting Ted Chiang's short story. I would also suggest Contact, District 9, and Moon, which all make my faves list for sci fi that doesn't enlist the usual "aliens are bad and scary" tropes
This movie has such a high rewatch value, so many little things you notice on subsequent watches, and it never gets old. One of the few "heartstrings" movies I can watch again and again.
I love how “time travel” is handled in this movie. It makes so much sense that if we had memories of the future, they would work the same as memories of the past. You would only remember the highlights of your life to come.
I think what she's actually experiencing is what's called Eternalism. Essentially the idea that there is no past or future but all of time is happening at once.
@@rustyshackleford3939 You're trying to use linear reasoning for a non-linear problem. You have to accept the reality presented by the movie (or in the concept of eternalism) as an absolute first, then you won't feel the need to explain something that doesn't need to exist in that new reality. Even in your question about causality, you quickly arrived at the most logical conclusion-which is that an eternalist universe is likely deterministic. The issue you're running into is that you're presuming that our universe is not, and so you're examining a juxtaposition that doesn't necessarily exist.
@@rustyshackleford3939 This is why you need to learn logical positvism. The question of whether time is 'all at once' or 'a little bit at a time' is meaningless.
@@revolutionairre "Accept that your question doesn't need to be answered" is "God works in mysterious ways" in a slightly more rational-sounding disguise. Let's not do that. Rusty's asking how a universe that seems ruled by cause-and-effect can possibly be pre-determined. If you can't answer the question, just say that; don't pretend it's a silly question to ask. Rusty, the actual answer here moves into multiverse theory. A cause-and-effect universe can possibly be deterministic if all causes and all effects are in existence simultaneously.
@tyler.. I agree that is profound and it's interesting the being stood there in acceptance even knowing it's the end... Which opens up another conversation on character/honor or vaat knowledge of the afterlife
I always tell people that I named my daughter after this movie. My daughter was born in September 2016. While the movie was screened days before her birth, its wide release was in November 2016.
The reason why we see Hannah dying at the start of the film is because the film in it’s entirety is like the word “Hannah” a Palindrome, meaning that it starts and ends exactly at the same point, and if you put all the little hints together like “mum and dad talk to animals” then it basically ends up being that you the audience were gifted the heptepods ability of perceiving points of time at any given time throughout at the film
The theme is carried out so splendidly through the whole film. Even the ending doesn't say "The End"; it says "Arrival" in a perfect circular self-reference.
I *never* get tired of watching reactions to this movie. Arrival is among my favorite films of any genre and the observations and feedback here were great. The initial responses when the heptapods arrived were so wonderful to see-Simone with abject terror and George with giddy enthusiasm-because my own reaction was exactly the midpoint of those extremes. Love you guys! Thank you Patrons for voting for this one.
The truth: There are more than 300 languages in Australia, and a hundred different species of kangaroo and wallaby. In the language spoken where Europeans first landed the eastern grey kangaroo is called "gangurru", but no one else in the rest of the country knew that word or that animal, so when the Europeans happily wandered around pointing at red kangaroos and yellow wallabies and saying "Kangaroo!", the locals didn't have a clue what they were on about and thought it was an English word.
The main thing that interested me about this movie, apart from being sci-fi, was that the main character is a linguist, and this is a profession you don't see often represented. Here's a nice excerpt from the short story from which the movie is inspired, and which deals with misunderstandings in communication: Hannah: Mommy, can I be honored? Louise: What do you mean, baby, could you give me some context? Hannah: Well, my friend Jessica's sister is going to get married, so she let her have an important role during the ceremony. Louise: Oh, you mean that she is maid of honor? Hannah: Yes, that's it! Can I be made of honor?
This movie is a love letter to language and parenthood. I love it so much. Also at the end, he asked if she wanted a baby when they were dancing after they were married. That was the decision that caused him to leave, which she mentions earlier. Should could've changed it. She chose not to. Life is about the journey. Incredibly well crafted movie. So damn powerful.
I saw this movie in the theater when it came out. Was hyped for the sci-fi element, but NO ONE! Was prepared for the daughter storyline with the music playing. Everyone in the theatre were crying their eyes out at the end 😂 Other good Amy Adams dramas American Hustle (also Jeremy Rener) Nocturnal Animals The Fighter Her Small but memorable performance in: Catch me if you can
I mean, anyone who'd read Ted Chiang's _Story of Your Life_ and who knew this film adapted it (and had probably been watching to see it since we heard Villeneuve was adapting it) was _well_ aware of where the film was going, even if many details were changed. Still a great adaptation, though.
I honestly don't have the words to properly describe how much I love this movie. Denis Villeneuve is a sci-fi wizard. Every frame of this movie is perfect. The fact that Abbott has known his entire life that he was going to die this way but also knew that Louise was going to be the one to figure it out makes my head spin. Amazing.
I'm a translator and an interpreter, and this is one of my favorite movies. Language is such a beautiful thing and yet there are some that by choice restrain themselves to only one. Language, and how it works, often times helps you understand the way the people from whom it originates think. My personality definitely changes in some ways depending on the language I speak, and seeing that shown here in this way was just beautiful.
30:49 this is my favorite part. simone is holding back the tears, calming herself down... but she can't escape the emotion of the movie. over and over you see that on her face while george gives his thoughts... i think it's beautiful to see that raw emotion. great movie 🤩😥❤️
Simone said when you know The Story Of Your Life - I wonder if she knew that was the title of the short story by Ted Chiang that the film was based on ?
It's generally not a mark of intelligence to declare things "stupid" and summarily reject them without even attempting to explain why; especially not when the topic of discussion is a film whose core theme is the very nature of communication. The true beauty of this film is that you don't even *need* to know what she said. That's why it doesn't have subtitles. To fixate on precisely *what* she said is to miss the real point being made.
This was the film that led directly to Villineuve directing the “Blade Runner” sequel and Frank Herbert’s “Dune”. And now he’s prepping to adapt Arthur C. Clark’s “Rendezvous with Rama” (after he’s finished with the second part of “Dune”…)
The thing about the time slips throughout the movie is that they began immediately and were explained throughout as that at the point she was exposed to the language in her lifetime, the slips went back and forward throughout her entire life as a result. Pre-existing and post-existing simultaneously.
The views into the future only start happening from her perspective as she is starting to learn the language. Prior to that, the only time we see the future is the section at the very start of the film - the prologue. Because the audience sees that first, we (naturally) assume it has already happened. But I don't think that was something she saw at the start of the film, as it was narrated by her for the audience (and the only other time this happens in the film is the epilogue).
@@therandytomato5679 Exactly. She even says in her narration at the beginning, "I remember moments in the middle and this was the end. But now I'm not so sure I believe in beginnings and endings." That last line in particular is obvs her telling us the story from after she's realized that time is non-linear/all at once.
@@therandytomato5679 I thought that at first but doesn't her mom ask her how she's doing before (assuming about the daughter) she even meets the aliens. Also she's wearing a wedding even though she wasn't married "yet".
@@marslara Her mother is asking that in the middle of the aliens arriving. It's a big thing happening, people asking others how they're doing would be common (in any case, my mother asks me that every time we speak..) If she is wearing a ring (outside of the flash forwards) it must not be a wedding ring - she explicitly states she's single.
@@therandytomato5679 You're right I was misremembering the order. And I assumed it was about the daughter because of how she replied, like you know me. She has the same sadness shown after the daughter already died so I assumed it was like book and the timeline was already existing simultaneously without her being able to realize it until she started speaking with the aliens.
I particularly when they are (in the timeline) first professing their feelings or just soon after, and she says "I forgot how good it feels to hold you" or something like that. I don't know why but that always gets me....having that sensation of reconnecting with someone after a long absence and how good that feels, but it being the first time they are really in that moment.
Seeing reactors watch Arrival is always interesting. That moment at 25:56 when they both have their, "Oh Shit" moment and you realise what is happening is priceless. Everyone seems to have it and goes through it when watching this movie. Watching it again you see so much of the story and it is just as enjoyable with repeated viewings.
Something I find really interesting about this movie is how it's so intense but quiet at the same time. It's very sad too but at the same time peaceful. Very unusual and unique.
Simone's reaction was so lovely: she's usually so goofy, and she was genuinely touched by this film. (How could anyone not be?) I cried along with her. BTW, as I'm sure many ppl will mention, there might/might not be be non-hostile aliens in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," which some folks regard as one of Spielberg's best films. (No spoilers!) John Carpenter's "Starman" (1984) is another. Anyway, your reactions continue to delight!
Paradoxes might not be a problem if you cease to experience time linearly - insofar as even the word "cease" can have any real meaning in non-linear time, ironically.
@@tommcewan7936 fr. if all of time is happening to you at once you can now you need to do something in the future to inform your past because it's all already happened and about to happen.
I really recommend the short-story on which the film is based, "The Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang. It's a quick read, but goes more into the details concerning nonlinear time-perception, the math aspect and the logic of it all. The film is about many things, but the central theme is time and our existence in it, spesifically considering determinism, teleology and our purpose in life. the central question is, would you change anything, if you could see your whole life. I don't know about Ted Chiang's or the producers influences, but it reminds me greatly of Nietzsche, the idea of eternal recurrence and "amor fati" (love of fate). the central idea is basically the same and is summed up by Nietzsche in the following: "What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more' ... Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine". As a sidenote, another theme is culture, social context and language and how they define our conciousness. What I love about the film is that it deals with the typical tropes but in a very subtle way. you have your archetypal "sceptic" characters, who see everything through the lens of war and strategic deception (the colonel, the CIA-guy, General Chang). They are not "evil" people by any means, however. They simply see the world in relation to their institutional context (intelligence, defense and national interest) and take a cautious (and not completely irrational) approach to the aliens. It is how they have learned to or been conditioned to see the world (the "nail and hammer" metaphor). But as we see with the general, they are still human beings with their own emotional attachments and are capable of transcending their understanding. Many can become One.
I think the most interesting change from the story to the movie is how the daughter dies. In the movie, its a rare and unavoidable disease so there is no choice for the Amy Adams character. In the story, the daughter dies mountain climbing. So you have to wonder if the mother could have stopped the daughter from climbing or if the future is as set in stone as the past.
@@dankrieg4019 Or if there's only one future and one past. If the fifth dimension is a field comprised of (in our current linear way of thinking about it) infinite timelines "side by side," then everything that could ever happen is happening all the time and all at once. Your single point of consciousness (whatever that may be) is simply occupying its space within that field and, free of the linear-based instinct to try to navigate for some sort of "better" outcome, you could simply just enjoy the experience of existing knowing that there is no beginning and no end. Someone who "dies" from our current local perspective is still (and always) alive and you're still (and always) together... just at another coordinate. Your personal triumphs and tragedies are neither good nor bad, they're just the shape of the part of the whole that you're currently experiencing.
Great breakdown and I also wholeheartedly recommend Ted Chiang's work, both the particular short story 'Arrival' is based on and his other short stories
Probably the single greatest SFF short story of the late 20th century. Ted Chiang is to our era what Theodore Sturgeon was to the 40s, 50s, and 60s -- a profoundly gifted stylist with exquisite control over language and massively deep thinking behind his work. He writes maybe one story per year, and that story almost inevitably winds up nominated for multiple awards. I'd also recommend his stories "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" (a true time-travel story), "The Lifecycle of Software Objects", "Exhalation", and "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling", among others. But this one, "Story of Your Life", is the one that rips my heart out.
@@johnplaysgames3120Succinctly put. I think this as well, that it's happening all at once. Our perception is narrowed down to a point and is 'traveling'. Everything in the past is still happening and always will. Same for the future. If you want to experience something again, return (your consciousness) to the right coordinates.
I cried so much too. This movie reaches so many existential questions about nature of time or meaning of existence or just the acceptance of happiness and pain and fate as part of our human experience and so much more other things. Is deep in so many levels.
Time is the fourth dimension. They literally taught our species how to perceive the world in four dimensions. And what really blows my mind is that they knew the entire time how this meeting would turn out.
Arguably one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. This movie doesn't treat the viewer like a child needing to be spoon-fed information. Denis Villeneuve is just such a master at his craft.
It's so great you guys use the phrase "story of your life" at the end when describing the movie, the short story that it was based on is called exactly that.
26:36: The reason she's seeing glimpses of the future before the aliens arrive is because the aliens aren't looking back or forward in time, they just perceive time the way we perceive, say, locations. Once she is able to perceive time on that level, it's as if she always could, because the linear progression is no longer essential to her understanding.
Precisely. Easy enough to miss, because while we can wrap our heads around the movie, the concept of perceiving time this way is completely counter to what we instinctively think of as "real".
Oh man, the ending and reveal just wrecked me. Just knowing that she's still going to choose to have her daughter, knowing the absolute heart break that's going to happen. It's so heartbreaking and beautiful and just... ugh... ugly crying.
One of my favourite sci-fis in years. Seeing this gave me full faith in Denis Villeneuve when it was announced he was picked to make Dune Regarding the opening flashbacks, I believe the visions were "leaking back" to even before she had her perception of time unlocked, as 'after' that point there is no concept of 'before' her perception was unlocked, so some life event memories intermingled into her dreams in her past before they happened, including before her unlock-point
The thing about "assuming the aliens are bad or violent" is that, while it's of course perfectly possible that they wouldn't be, the threat of them being aggressive is literally existential. You HAVE to have things in place and be prepared for the possibility, because if you guess wrong, EVERYONE dies.
Also the only intelligent life we know is us. And we are aggressive. So since we are our only point of reference it might be something to at least take i to consideration
Here´s a few movies with "friendly" Aliens, more or less: *The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) *Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) *Contact (1997) *District 9 (2009) *E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial *Outlander (2009)
That was a great reaction to a film I love. Denis Villeneuve is probably my favorite director right now so I hope you will watch more of his works. He made the sequel to Blade Runner so, since you saw the original, I have hopes that 2049 will be on the horizon. Prisoners and Sicario are great as well (and not sci-fi).
@@peterwright9296 I' have seen it and I agree. I just tend to recommend his later Hollywood works first to people to be as accessible as possible. Especially when I just know them superficially, as we do with Simone and George.
The plot twist of the timelines being reversed in this movie is almost unmatched imo, i remember my mind being so blown. I wish i could watch this for the first time again so bad
It's like the first Koonz book I ever read years ago. You figure out pretty quickly that one person is time traveling, the twist was when you learn that he isn't from the future, he is from our past.
As a divorced dad of 3 amazing daughters , I’m always amazed at how much this movie gets my emotions rolling and dust in my eyes. The concept of her choosing to have her daughter , knowing the pain that will come losing her is something I understand, I’d deal with a lifetime of pain to have had a single day with any of my babies, the Love between a parent and their baby is something I couldn’t understand until being dad to my girls. The concepts played with in this film is amazing ! LOVE IT! Thankyou for your time you two.
All the movies I've watched from Denis Villeneuve end up being something else, like an experience that goes beyond what a movie usually brings and this was exactly that too. And I totally understand the emotional ending, it's quite the twist that makes you reflect on serious aspects of life, about how the journey is worth experiencing even if you know the end result. Thanks so much for this reaction!
The short story that this was based on was some serious sci-fi and some very serious exploration of languages. Brilliant - and the film translated it all really well (no pun intended). But the real kicker here was the new concept and perspective on Time. "In 3000 years we will need Humanity's help" is a brilliant line and the whole story of the language experts and their child, in the future, is very cleverly done. A truly brilliant SF film with genuinely alien aliens!
One of my favorite sci-films ever, and the first hit of Denis' trifecta followed by 'Blade Runner 2049' and 'Dune: Part One' and he'll make it a grand slam with 'Dune: Part 2' (sports analogies from a non-sports guy are always fun, right?).
@@keenanbartlome8153 Check out Incendies. It's a slow burner, but it has one of the most emotionally impactful endings I've ever seen. It might just be my fav film from him. It's a fucking masterpiece. Give it a look
The look on someone's face at the movie start is so priceless. She has the look as if Aliens actually landed and are about to take her whole family up for experiments in this spacecraft. This is why I love Simone so much, she takes all story-telling and visuals to heart. She empathizes completely with the characters in the movie as if she herself was going through the events as they are occurring. It's okay Simone, Just Breathe.
The intro (and end) music is "On the nature of daylight", by Max Richter, one of the most heartaking compositions ever writed. I allways have goosebumps (and some tears) when I hear it.
I second that! Scarlett Johansson left a deep impression on me without even being seen on screen! All the performances are excellent though - "Her" is a great film that I'd recommend to anyone.
i can't stress enough how much i love this movie. every single time the movie starts and i hear the violin my eyes start to tear up, one of my favorite soundtracks of all time
I met my wife 11 years ago at the age 21. 5 months ago I lost her to a rare disease. I'm the days leading up to her death I was sitting in the family room at the hospital alone. A man came in who's wife was also in the ICU. He knew I needed to talk and he said to me "I'm not gonna tell you anything that will make you feel better, life doesn't work that way unfortunately, the only thing that will do that is gonna have to come from inside yourself. So let me offer some advice that might get you started on your journey. Can you remember the day you met your wife? Good, now what if I told you all I have to do is snap my fingers and youll travel back to that day but instead of meeting her you'll walk right by and it will be like she never existed " I had my eyes closed, when he said that I snaped then open and said "NO" he said "but look how bad it hurts right now , all this pain all these years, no deserves this, I'm going to snap my fingers you'll thank me someday I promise" I was heavily crying at that point I said "PLEASE DONT, I BREAK YOUR WHOLE FUCKING HAND OFF" and then he gave me a hug, he said "I know you don't feel lucky now, how could you, it's hard to even imagine, but the future can't erase the past, no matter what happens today, or tomorrow, the fact is the day you two met was the luckiest day of your life. And the luckiest day of hers, nothing the future has to offer can take that away from you, it's yours to keep, forever, the only way it can be taken away is if you take it away from yourself, if you decide that the pain your feeling now isn't worth it , and you look back at that moment and decide it was the worst day of your life. Don't let that happen". I saw him again once, a few days later, after I gave my wife her last sunflower 🌻 , just kike the one I got her on our first day,. And gave her our last kiss, just like the one I gave her on our first date. He just nodded to me as I walked away from her room. I don't know what happend to him after that. But I hope someone is able to do for him what he did for me.
This whole movie is like a palindrome. You see the end and the beginning first and then bits and pieces back and forth. It is also a connection to the daughter's name Hannah which also means "favor"
i love this film so much, one of the best in recent years imo... and no matter how often i've seen it, some scenes just get me teary instantly... "who is this child?" on the forefront of those
I appreciate that he nailed the non-linear even before it was mentioned. This is my favorite movie. And it always makes me cry at the beginning and the end.
If your interested in "good" aliens I would suggest Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". One of his earlier movies and one of my favorites, both inspiring and funny !
Wonderful reaction from the both of you. Simone, I definitely felt your raw emotions there at the conclusion and wish that you could have taken a few hours to process before feeling the pressure of having to comment for us. Kudos for holding it together though. George, some of your comments throughout the course of the movie were so very perceptive. Kudos for that.
Re: "kangaroo". As Canadians, I'm a little surprised you weren't reminded of that famous "History" PSA, wherein a European explorer gestures over a valley containing a village and asks his Indigenous guide what the land is called. The guide responds, "Kanata", meaning, "village", assuming, very reasonably, that the European was asking the name of the thing he was pointing at, rather than some foolish metaphorical question he couldn't really hope to communicate as yet. Hence, "Canada". George makes some good points about cultural assumptions, but I think he overlooks some universal elements. For example, the idea that sending more than one ship suggests intent beyond first contact, possibly hostile. While there's room for care about anthropomorphization, there's also, as George noted, the iron laws of mathematics/physics. 12 ships are harder to build and transport than 1, assuming conservation of energy hasn't been abrogated. Therefore, sending more ships than appears necessary for the intended job must be assumed to be suggestive. Similarly, the idea of colonization being a human artifact, which I'm not sure holds in a universe where, at least in the short term, stealing something is almost always easier than making it. One must be careful about unwarranted assumptions, particularly the trap of assuming one's own experiences to be universal, but you can go too far in that direction, as well. I understand the concerns about Sinophobia. At the same time, the fact that China is now a totalitarian ethno-supremacist fascist state under Xi's personal dictatorship with obvious intentions towards expanding his autocracy can hardly be overlooked. We know how that turned-out last time (hi, Chamberlain! You were kinda right, in terms of what you knew at the time, you poor bastard!), and how it will turn out every time, as explained by Karl Popper. Democracy and fascism cannot co-exist; you can only choose which eats the other, because one will. That whole "Great Han Race" thing is not going to end well for anyone, as it's just a palette-swap of white supremacism. I'd draw a parallel here with the need to differentiate between Putin and Russia in the current Ukraine invasion; Putin and Xi want to make these conflicts between "societies", rather than co-ordinated international and domestic efforts to overturn their anti-democratic abuse and thievery. In terms of "guessing", sometimes that's the only way forward. It's similar to brute-forcing a logic problem; you find the unknown variables, find their possible values, and just start plugging them in and running the numbers until you get the right one and the algorithm clicks. The important element tends to be remembering what was a guess, and what it was based on, so that if you run into trouble in the future, you remember which variables aren't solid in terms of the evidence for their assumed value.
'I used to think this was the beginning of your story.' The first line of the movie hints at the twist of the movie. This movie reminds me of the novel 'Slaughterhouse 5'. The protagonist in that movie becomes 'unstuck' in time and can bounce around to other points of his life. Also, when Hannah is playing Sherrif with her mom at ua-cam.com/video/nNpdyGsrL1k/v-deo.html doesn't it look like she's a heptopod?
Another friendly alien arrival movie is "Paul" where Seth Rogan is the Alien being kept in Area 51. It deserves a watch because in many people's minds it should really be a part of the Cornetto series.
This is one of my favorite movies. It's great because it causes us to think of humanity's shortcomings and our hatred of everything we consider foreign or alien.
You absolutely do not wanna send George to meet aliens. He’d be bouncing around like a child at the pic-n-mix and they’d immediately blow everyone up as a precautionary measure.
Easily one of my favourite films of the '10's. The short story this is based on (Story of Your Life, by Ted Chiang) is an amazing blend of philosophy and SciFi. I worried when I heard a movie was to be made, but, then I heard it was Denis Villeneuve. The man can do no wrong. I think George for sure is going to dig this.
I've never watched a sci-fi movie that makes me cry every time I watch it. Even in this reaction video. There's something about the music and that mom child love that makes me feel so, so emotional. I'm convinced that Denis Villeneuve is one of the best directors nowadays. All his movies, up to now are great, simply great.
@@wackyvorlon Seen both, Babylon 5 comes close, but TNG just has so much more to it. The characters and the writing is not only more interesting in TNG, but it's also tighter, more poignant and more straightforward. Which I think when trying to reach the "mass" audience, edges out Babylon 5 in favor of TNG.
Arrival is based on a story by Ted Chiang, named "Story of Your Life." In the original, the mother is writing to her daughter, telling her the story of her life, just before the father asks whether the mother wants to make a baby. And the mom knows as she writes the story that the daughter won't live long enough to be given the story. 😢 Beautiful story. I loved it long before the movie came out. The book it's published in is named either "Stories of Your Life and Others" or "Arrival" (they changed the name for the movie tie-in).
George nailed it at the end - I'm sure someone has already mentioned that Ted Chiang's short story is called "Story Of Your Life". A great movie with big themes.
I like the wat she was teaching us her job. And that if she didn't do it correctly, we could be in trouble. Her acting really saves this story. She did her job.
The Hungarian word to which Halpern refers is "szalámitaktika." (In English, this translates to "salami tactics.") The word means to divide the opposition, in order to only have to face smaller, weaker enemies.
Ah yes, the internet. Where nobody is allowed to have an oppinion, without being told how terrible wrong they are. My philosophy is to let people express their love for something, without putting them down. You guys clearly understand how stupid that is. Keep making the world a better place you lovely people.
This movie still gives me chills, in the best way, every time I watch it or watch a 1st-time reaction to it. The whole film is so smart, so well thought out, and the concepts are extremely captivating and compelling. The ending still makes me cry. Such an amazing masterpiece of storytelling.
This movie falls into a category I like to label "Adult Sci-fi"... No, George, not porn with aliens...science fiction for adults. You have movies like Star Wars and Star Trek that are mostly about the action and special effects, and then there's movies like this, Interstellar and others that use the sci-fi as merely a framework for the story, not the story itself. Thank you for watching it. As always, you two do a great job. Thanks!
Precisely. I like to differentiate between Sci-Fi as a genre and Sci-Fi as a setting. The Genre of Sci-Fi is about "what if". Arrival, Minority Report, Blade Runner, and even I, Robot, Frankenstein, District 9 - They all pose a "what if" question "What if science changed this one simple thing about our world, what would happen?" and then explore how individual people adjust to that change, or how society as a whole deals with those changes. Contrast that to Sci-Fi as a setting. Things like Star Wars, Fifth Element, most of the Marvel stuff, they're not questioning how their world came to be. Their reality has already been established. There's space ships and faster than light travel. there are aliens and we have diplomacy with them … Really? Space wizards that can mind control people came to be the peace keepers of the galaxy, how did that go over? Nobody objected? All these things have already happened and now we're telling a family story in this alternate universe. They're action movies, fantasy movies, or dramas. (btw, I'm not knocking these movies, they are great fun, I just wouldn't call them Sci-Fi.)
Great reaction. Love this movie and loving watching people react to it. I've seen a few people mention the short story this was based on - "The Story of Your Life" - but haven't seen anyone else catch that Simone actually said it at the end, in a line that perfectly encapsulated the short story and film: "If you know the story of your life, you can have calm and acceptance..." I was like the Leonardo DiCaprio meme pointing when she said it. 😀
I just noticed during this reaction that the daughter’s name is Hannah, a palindrome like the alien language. It shows not just that Louise is thinking the way the heptapods do, but also that she gets to relive her daughter’s life backwards and forwards because of her non-linear perception of time. The fundamental question this movie asks is: If you knew the trajectory and terminus of your life, would you change it? And I love that we’re given several different answers. Abbott travelled all the way from the aliens’ home world knowing that he would die. Donnelly leaves Louise and Hannah because he can’t bear the knowledge that Hannah is going to die. And Louise marries Donnelly and gives birth to Hannah despite knowing the pain that she, Donnelly, and Hannah would feel. Because life is worth it. Living is worth it. One of my favorite writers wrote, “Pain is for the living. Only the dead don’t feel it.” Even though pain sucks, and it does, life is still worth living, and the second we decide that it’s not, we lose what makes us human.
I think when you learn the language, the expression "change the future" doesn't make sense anymore. If you pay attention you can see that she practically lives in the present, the past and the future at the same time. For her, the future has already happened, is happening and will happen.
It’s interesting that Villeneuve chose 2 movies that both deal with the dilemma of knowing your future and if that knowledge is a trap. Dune part 2 will hopefully delve more into that.
@@kloazul That’s a good point. I hadn’t thought of it that way. You’re right. Time itself ceases to have any meaning for her. Although this raises a question about the aliens needing help in 3000 years: 3000 years from when? When they left their home world? When they arrived on earth? When Louise understood? When the nations of the world united? When Abbott and Costello were born? When Abbott died? How can you make a plan for the future of the future has already happened?
@@LokRevenant You don't; the future has already happened. Look at how Louise handled calling the Chinese general. She gets the idea in the present, but runs into a problem: she doesn't know the general's number or what to say. Cut to her remembering a future event where the general himself provides her with both his personal phone number AND tells her what to say to him to convince him. That's what the aliens were doing on Earth.
@@Tantalus010 If the humans couldn’t change the future because it had already happened, then why did the aliens bother to come to earth in the first place?
“Self pulfilling fophecy” made me laugh too much, because I’ve said the exact same thing while in a conversation about the drug war where I also said “smug drugglers” and assumed something bad was happening in my brain.
This is one of my favourite movies of all time... There's no way i can explain how it affected me, but it did something amazing. I'm really glad you watched it. Denis Villeneuve is such an amazing director...
1. Black licorice jelly beans are the BEST!! 2. Humanity is SPECTACULARLY unprepared and unworthy of meeting extraterrestrial/alien life at this point in our development. The nasty, petty, paranoid, belligerent, feckless, myopic behavior of the characters we despised the most in this movie are an example of exactly what would happen, if not worse. I would love to be around when first contact happens, but I suspect we're probably thousands of years from being mature enough to handle it properly. 3. This really is an excellent movie. Loved every minute of it, and so glad you got to react to it.
My jaw dropped when George mentioned the Aliens might not speaking in a "linear" fashion. It's exactly what this movie is about and literally the very first scene is Amy Adams going in that circle way.
Yeah George is so smart
Have to admit, I was super impressed. 🙂
I came here to say pretty much the same thing.
He's probably read some science fiction. Vonnegut, perhaps? It certainly isn't a novel concept.
Same! I was like “they don’t!”
I love this movie. Finally a science fiction involving aliens without the usual confrontation and violence. Smart science fiction beautifully showed. I wish there were more like this. Amy Adams knocked it out of the park and the ending still messes me up despite knowing what's coming. Denis Villeneuve definitely knows how to tell a story and surround himself with amazing talent. I love this movie.
Agree impressed by both this and the first part of his Dune series so looking forward to seeing more of his work.
Not too shabby, if a few cuts below Live, Die, Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow.
Yes honestly. The whole "aliens kill us all" and "machines kill us all" is such a tired Hollywood trope. I think Transcendence was an under appreciated science fiction flick too.
'Contact' in 1997 had peaceful aliens, though there wasn't much(if any) direct portrayal of the aliens from memory.
agreed...Denis Villeneuve did a fantastic job of interpreting Ted Chiang's short story. I would also suggest Contact, District 9, and Moon, which all make my faves list for sci fi that doesn't enlist the usual "aliens are bad and scary" tropes
The General's wife’s last words are “In war there are no winners, only widows.”
Sadly very relevant
Nah, she said swing away Merrill
and orphans...
战争不会造就英雄，只会造就孤儿寡妇
War makes no heroes, only orphans and widows
THANK YOU!
"They may not even speak in a linear fashion."
*In the writing business, we call this foreshadowing*
This movie has such a high rewatch value, so many little things you notice on subsequent watches, and it never gets old. One of the few "heartstrings" movies I can watch again and again.
I call it stunningly appropriate prescience.
This is why I like this channel. George picks up on things faster than most reactors (or, in this case, maybe he was just psychic.)
I love how George figures out the twist at 4:07 but he doesn't really know it yet. That's... quite thematic!
Maybe he understand heptapod?!
George is awesome (as is Simone). Both are very intelligent, witty, and caring. One of my favorite reaction channels.
George expressing non-linear thinking.
Exactly what I thought! I thought Bingo George, you have hit on it!
Another good react channel is "Me You and the Movies". A husband and wife team, and she almost always figures it out early on.
I love how “time travel” is handled in this movie. It makes so much sense that if we had memories of the future, they would work the same as memories of the past. You would only remember the highlights of your life to come.
I think what she's actually experiencing is what's called Eternalism. Essentially the idea that there is no past or future but all of time is happening at once.
@@rustyshackleford3939 You're trying to use linear reasoning for a non-linear problem. You have to accept the reality presented by the movie (or in the concept of eternalism) as an absolute first, then you won't feel the need to explain something that doesn't need to exist in that new reality.
Even in your question about causality, you quickly arrived at the most logical conclusion-which is that an eternalist universe is likely deterministic. The issue you're running into is that you're presuming that our universe is not, and so you're examining a juxtaposition that doesn't necessarily exist.
@@rustyshackleford3939 This is why you need to learn logical positvism. The question of whether time is 'all at once' or 'a little bit at a time' is meaningless.
@@rustyshackleford3939 I think what you're saying is that time & space are made up of... POCKET SAND!!!
@@revolutionairre "Accept that your question doesn't need to be answered" is "God works in mysterious ways" in a slightly more rational-sounding disguise. Let's not do that.
Rusty's asking how a universe that seems ruled by cause-and-effect can possibly be pre-determined. If you can't answer the question, just say that; don't pretend it's a silly question to ask.
Rusty, the actual answer here moves into multiverse theory. A cause-and-effect universe can possibly be deterministic if all causes and all effects are in existence simultaneously.
Now just consider how due to the aliens' circular memories, Abbott ALWAYS knew through his entire life that he was going to die this way.
that's profound as well. I feel like most people have to see this movie more than once to notice these little things.
@tyler.. I agree that is profound and it's interesting the being stood there in acceptance even knowing it's the end... Which opens up another conversation on character/honor or vaat knowledge of the afterlife
My first thought is the Ancient One from Doctor Strange who knew the moment of her death, but felt it was inevitable.
I always tell people that I named my daughter after this movie. My daughter was born in September 2016. While the movie was screened days before her birth, its wide release was in November 2016.
@@richcheckmaker Pretty sure it's Hannah lol. Or Louise.
But how funny would it be if it were "Abbot" or "Costello" 😂
The reason why we see Hannah dying at the start of the film is because the film in it’s entirety is like the word “Hannah” a Palindrome, meaning that it starts and ends exactly at the same point, and if you put all the little hints together like “mum and dad talk to animals” then it basically ends up being that you the audience were gifted the heptepods ability of perceiving points of time at any given time throughout at the film
Memento: “Am I a joke to you?”
Another way of thinking about it is that we've come "full circle" to the beginning.
The theme is carried out so splendidly through the whole film. Even the ending doesn't say "The End"; it says "Arrival" in a perfect circular self-reference.
@@notthefia9154 I saw it as her perception of time went both ways so her past self was effected as well.
I *never* get tired of watching reactions to this movie. Arrival is among my favorite films of any genre and the observations and feedback here were great. The initial responses when the heptapods arrived were so wonderful to see-Simone with abject terror and George with giddy enthusiasm-because my own reaction was exactly the midpoint of those extremes. Love you guys! Thank you Patrons for voting for this one.
this and interstellar and the anime your name
The truth: There are more than 300 languages in Australia, and a hundred different species of kangaroo and wallaby. In the language spoken where Europeans first landed the eastern grey kangaroo is called "gangurru", but no one else in the rest of the country knew that word or that animal, so when the Europeans happily wandered around pointing at red kangaroos and yellow wallabies and saying "Kangaroo!", the locals didn't have a clue what they were on about and thought it was an English word.
I never kangaroo'd this!
🤣🤦♂️😅🤷♂️🤨
Luckely the gangbangguru wasn't in fashion at the time
The main thing that interested me about this movie, apart from being sci-fi, was that the main character is a linguist, and this is a profession you don't see often represented.
Here's a nice excerpt from the short story from which the movie is inspired, and which deals with misunderstandings in communication:
Hannah: Mommy, can I be honored?
Louise: What do you mean, baby, could you give me some context?
Hannah: Well, my friend Jessica's sister is going to get married, so she let her have an important role during the ceremony.
Louise: Oh, you mean that she is maid of honor?
Hannah: Yes, that's it! Can I be made of honor?
Woahhh cool
You'll probably also enjoy the movie, "Contact" after this one. Fantastic and inspiring reactions you guys!
oh yes, please do "Contact" next
please contact
Yes, Contact, like Arrival, is also mind-bendingly good.
Fantastic book as well.
I can only assume Arrival was heavily inspired by Contact.
Simone: Oh no! Aliens! They're probably going to kill or eat us!
Aliens: Nah, we're just here to make you cry.
Simone: ...
Simone: "mheawwwaaaww"
This movie is a love letter to language and parenthood. I love it so much.
Also at the end, he asked if she wanted a baby when they were dancing after they were married. That was the decision that caused him to leave, which she mentions earlier. Should could've changed it. She chose not to. Life is about the journey. Incredibly well crafted movie. So damn powerful.
This movie feels like a kind of cerebral sci-fi that rarely gets made.
The day that I saw the first trailer I texted my son and said, "I think the thinking man's alien movie is about to come out."
Hoping Rendezvous with Rama will have that vibe... Should it get made but I hear Denis is interested.
That's because general audiences prefer brainless action.
agreed. we need more stuff like this.
@@Outland9000 Pretty sure Denis is forging ahead with it in-between working on Dune part 2
I saw this movie in the theater when it came out. Was hyped for the sci-fi element, but NO ONE! Was prepared for the daughter storyline with the music playing. Everyone in the theatre were crying their eyes out at the end 😂
Other good Amy Adams dramas
American Hustle (also Jeremy Rener)
Nocturnal Animals
The Fighter
Her
Small but memorable performance in: Catch me if you can
I mean, anyone who'd read Ted Chiang's _Story of Your Life_ and who knew this film adapted it (and had probably been watching to see it since we heard Villeneuve was adapting it) was _well_ aware of where the film was going, even if many details were changed. Still a great adaptation, though.
It wasn't just the realization and the scene, the music had a lot to do with it as well.
How can you forget The Master? Easily her best film
Paul Thomas Anderson is next level
I honestly don't have the words to properly describe how much I love this movie. Denis Villeneuve is a sci-fi wizard. Every frame of this movie is perfect. The fact that Abbott has known his entire life that he was going to die this way but also knew that Louise was going to be the one to figure it out makes my head spin. Amazing.
I saw this in theaters twice. People gasped when the twist came. And I thought about this movie for days after. Truly a masterclass of a film
I'm a translator and an interpreter, and this is one of my favorite movies. Language is such a beautiful thing and yet there are some that by choice restrain themselves to only one. Language, and how it works, often times helps you understand the way the people from whom it originates think. My personality definitely changes in some ways depending on the language I speak, and seeing that shown here in this way was just beautiful.
Rewatch this movie right now. You need it. Trust me.
30:49 this is my favorite part. simone is holding back the tears, calming herself down... but she can't escape the emotion of the movie. over and over you see that on her face while george gives his thoughts... i think it's beautiful to see that raw emotion.
great movie 🤩😥❤️
Exactly!
Simone said when you know The Story Of Your Life - I wonder if she knew that was the title of the short story by Ted Chiang that the film was based on ?
The message Louise relayed to General Shang were the dying words of his wife in Mandarin: "In war, there are no winners. Only widows."
Such a beautiful yet tragic quote.
When it comes to war the banks when every time.
@@trhansen3244 Because you didn't understand it..
@@trhansen3244 Where is the blatant stupidity?
It's generally not a mark of intelligence to declare things "stupid" and summarily reject them without even attempting to explain why; especially not when the topic of discussion is a film whose core theme is the very nature of communication.
The true beauty of this film is that you don't even *need* to know what she said. That's why it doesn't have subtitles. To fixate on precisely *what* she said is to miss the real point being made.
This was the film that led directly to Villineuve directing the “Blade Runner” sequel and Frank Herbert’s “Dune”. And now he’s prepping to adapt Arthur C. Clark’s “Rendezvous with Rama” (after he’s finished with the second part of “Dune”…)
I'd pay good money to see him direct "Blindsight" by Peter Watts.
I love how one moment signifies a massive tone change.
Movie: "Who is that child?"
Everyone: "Wait, what? HOLY S#%#!"
The thing about the time slips throughout the movie is that they began immediately and were explained throughout as that at the point she was exposed to the language in her lifetime, the slips went back and forward throughout her entire life as a result. Pre-existing and post-existing simultaneously.
The views into the future only start happening from her perspective as she is starting to learn the language.
Prior to that, the only time we see the future is the section at the very start of the film - the prologue. Because the audience sees that first, we (naturally) assume it has already happened. But I don't think that was something she saw at the start of the film, as it was narrated by her for the audience (and the only other time this happens in the film is the epilogue).
@@therandytomato5679 Exactly. She even says in her narration at the beginning, "I remember moments in the middle and this was the end. But now I'm not so sure I believe in beginnings and endings." That last line in particular is obvs her telling us the story from after she's realized that time is non-linear/all at once.
@@therandytomato5679 I thought that at first but doesn't her mom ask her how she's doing before (assuming about the daughter) she even meets the aliens. Also she's wearing a wedding even though she wasn't married "yet".
@@marslara Her mother is asking that in the middle of the aliens arriving. It's a big thing happening, people asking others how they're doing would be common (in any case, my mother asks me that every time we speak..)
If she is wearing a ring (outside of the flash forwards) it must not be a wedding ring - she explicitly states she's single.
@@therandytomato5679 You're right I was misremembering the order. And I assumed it was about the daughter because of how she replied, like you know me. She has the same sadness shown after the daughter already died so I assumed it was like book and the timeline was already existing simultaneously without her being able to realize it until she started speaking with the aliens.
I particularly when they are (in the timeline) first professing their feelings or just soon after, and she says "I forgot how good it feels to hold you" or something like that. I don't know why but that always gets me....having that sensation of reconnecting with someone after a long absence and how good that feels, but it being the first time they are really in that moment.
"They might not even speak, in a linear fashion."
Well, that's one way of putting it for sure! George with some great insight on that one.
It's almost annoying how smart George is sometimes :D
He's trolling us he watched this movie next week :)
seeing simone freak out the entire time gave me serotonin and i'm not quite sure how to explain why LOL. i love this movie sm.
Seeing reactors watch Arrival is always interesting. That moment at 25:56 when they both have their, "Oh Shit" moment and you realise what is happening is priceless. Everyone seems to have it and goes through it when watching this movie. Watching it again you see so much of the story and it is just as enjoyable with repeated viewings.
Something I find really interesting about this movie is how it's so intense but quiet at the same time. It's very sad too but at the same time peaceful. Very unusual and unique.
Simone's reaction was so lovely: she's usually so goofy, and she was genuinely touched by this film. (How could anyone not be?) I cried along with her. BTW, as I'm sure many ppl will mention, there might/might not be be non-hostile aliens in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," which some folks regard as one of Spielberg's best films. (No spoilers!) John Carpenter's "Starman" (1984) is another. Anyway, your reactions continue to delight!
Both are great examples, as well as E.T. and Contact!
I love that Louise masters the Heptapods language by essentially reading her own future book. There's a couple of bootstrap paradoxes in here.
Paradoxes might not be a problem if you cease to experience time linearly - insofar as even the word "cease" can have any real meaning in non-linear time, ironically.
@@tommcewan7936 fr. if all of time is happening to you at once you can now you need to do something in the future to inform your past because it's all already happened and about to happen.
Aww…bless you, Simone. We’ve all been there…This movie is astonishing.
I really recommend the short-story on which the film is based, "The Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang. It's a quick read, but goes more into the details concerning nonlinear time-perception, the math aspect and the logic of it all.
The film is about many things, but the central theme is time and our existence in it, spesifically considering determinism, teleology and our purpose in life. the central question is, would you change anything, if you could see your whole life. I don't know about Ted Chiang's or the producers influences, but it reminds me greatly of Nietzsche, the idea of eternal recurrence and "amor fati" (love of fate). the central idea is basically the same and is summed up by Nietzsche in the following:
"What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more' ... Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine".
As a sidenote, another theme is culture, social context and language and how they define our conciousness. What I love about the film is that it deals with the typical tropes but in a very subtle way. you have your archetypal "sceptic" characters, who see everything through the lens of war and strategic deception (the colonel, the CIA-guy, General Chang). They are not "evil" people by any means, however. They simply see the world in relation to their institutional context (intelligence, defense and national interest) and take a cautious (and not completely irrational) approach to the aliens. It is how they have learned to or been conditioned to see the world (the "nail and hammer" metaphor). But as we see with the general, they are still human beings with their own emotional attachments and are capable of transcending their understanding. Many can become One.
I think the most interesting change from the story to the movie is how the daughter dies. In the movie, its a rare and unavoidable disease so there is no choice for the Amy Adams character. In the story, the daughter dies mountain climbing. So you have to wonder if the mother could have stopped the daughter from climbing or if the future is as set in stone as the past.
@@dankrieg4019 Or if there's only one future and one past. If the fifth dimension is a field comprised of (in our current linear way of thinking about it) infinite timelines "side by side," then everything that could ever happen is happening all the time and all at once. Your single point of consciousness (whatever that may be) is simply occupying its space within that field and, free of the linear-based instinct to try to navigate for some sort of "better" outcome, you could simply just enjoy the experience of existing knowing that there is no beginning and no end. Someone who "dies" from our current local perspective is still (and always) alive and you're still (and always) together... just at another coordinate. Your personal triumphs and tragedies are neither good nor bad, they're just the shape of the part of the whole that you're currently experiencing.
Great breakdown and I also wholeheartedly recommend Ted Chiang's work, both the particular short story 'Arrival' is based on and his other short stories
Probably the single greatest SFF short story of the late 20th century. Ted Chiang is to our era what Theodore Sturgeon was to the 40s, 50s, and 60s -- a profoundly gifted stylist with exquisite control over language and massively deep thinking behind his work. He writes maybe one story per year, and that story almost inevitably winds up nominated for multiple awards. I'd also recommend his stories "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" (a true time-travel story), "The Lifecycle of Software Objects", "Exhalation", and "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling", among others. But this one, "Story of Your Life", is the one that rips my heart out.
@@johnplaysgames3120Succinctly put. I think this as well, that it's happening all at once. Our perception is narrowed down to a point and is 'traveling'. Everything in the past is still happening and always will. Same for the future. If you want to experience something again, return (your consciousness) to the right coordinates.
This movie is so underrated. Completely different from an "alien" type of sci-fi movie.
I cried so much too. This movie reaches so many existential questions about nature of time or meaning of existence or just the acceptance of happiness and pain and fate as part of our human experience and so much more other things. Is deep in so many levels.
Time is the fourth dimension. They literally taught our species how to perceive the world in four dimensions.
And what really blows my mind is that they knew the entire time how this meeting would turn out.
Note: do not send Simone on any first contact missions. They will be insulted very very quickly.
Arguably one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. This movie doesn't treat the viewer like a child needing to be spoon-fed information.
Denis Villeneuve is just such a master at his craft.
I would even argue this might not even be a sci fi movie at all. Its like a philosophical mystery and an emotional journey together
For another "alien" movie I highly recommend you watch DISTRICT 9. Such a great movie!!!
Absolutely.
Fantastic suggestion!
Yes! This!
interesting concept but the dialogue is too basic and the plot too obvious and predictable. acting is terrible too. not a fan of that director
Amy Adams is phenomenal in this movie. this is one of my favorite movies of all time, it never fails to make me cry
It's so great you guys use the phrase "story of your life" at the end when describing the movie, the short story that it was based on is called exactly that.
I noticed that too. Weird if it was a coincidence.
The score at the end ("Max Richter - On the nature of daylight") ... when it's paired with sad pictures it really punctures your heart.
26:36: The reason she's seeing glimpses of the future before the aliens arrive is because the aliens aren't looking back or forward in time, they just perceive time the way we perceive, say, locations. Once she is able to perceive time on that level, it's as if she always could, because the linear progression is no longer essential to her understanding.
Precisely. Easy enough to miss, because while we can wrap our heads around the movie, the concept of perceiving time this way is completely counter to what we instinctively think of as "real".
One of the most beautiful cinematic experiences of the modern era. Wrecks me everytime, as well. I appreciated sharing the tears for a change.
Oh man, the ending and reveal just wrecked me. Just knowing that she's still going to choose to have her daughter, knowing the absolute heart break that's going to happen. It's so heartbreaking and beautiful and just... ugh... ugly crying.
One of my favourite sci-fis in years. Seeing this gave me full faith in Denis Villeneuve when it was announced he was picked to make Dune
Regarding the opening flashbacks, I believe the visions were "leaking back" to even before she had her perception of time unlocked, as 'after' that point there is no concept of 'before' her perception was unlocked, so some life event memories intermingled into her dreams in her past before they happened, including before her unlock-point
yeah to us we experience time as a single line to the aliens it is a circle there is no start or end they know exactly how their life will play out.
@@trhansen3244 Umm guess what buddy dont watch his movies then.
@@trhansen3244 Hmm l havent watched dune yet so cant really argue about that, the cinematography looked very good though.
The thing about "assuming the aliens are bad or violent" is that, while it's of course perfectly possible that they wouldn't be, the threat of them being aggressive is literally existential. You HAVE to have things in place and be prepared for the possibility, because if you guess wrong, EVERYONE dies.
Also the only intelligent life we know is us. And we are aggressive. So since we are our only point of reference it might be something to at least take i to consideration
@@mappes1 exactly. There might be no reason to assume aliens are violent, but there's certainly no reason to assume they're NOT, either 😂
Here´s a few movies with "friendly" Aliens, more or less: *The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) *Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) *Contact (1997) *District 9 (2009) *E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial *Outlander (2009)
This film blew me away. One I'll always remember, & always come back to. "Maybe I'd say what I felt more often." Something we should aspire to do.
That was a great reaction to a film I love. Denis Villeneuve is probably my favorite director right now so I hope you will watch more of his works. He made the sequel to Blade Runner so, since you saw the original, I have hopes that 2049 will be on the horizon. Prisoners and Sicario are great as well (and not sci-fi).
Watch Incendies if you haven't, it's fantastic.
Also Enemy is awesome
@@peterwright9296 I' have seen it and I agree. I just tend to recommend his later Hollywood works first to people to be as accessible as possible. Especially when I just know them superficially, as we do with Simone and George.
The plot twist of the timelines being reversed in this movie is almost unmatched imo, i remember my mind being so blown. I wish i could watch this for the first time again so bad
It's like the first Koonz book I ever read years ago. You figure out pretty quickly that one person is time traveling, the twist was when you learn that he isn't from the future, he is from our past.
@@ugaladh ouuu interesting!
As a divorced dad of 3 amazing daughters , I’m always amazed at how much this movie gets my emotions rolling and dust in my eyes. The concept of her choosing to have her daughter , knowing the pain that will come losing her is something I understand, I’d deal with a lifetime of pain to have had a single day with any of my babies, the Love between a parent and their baby is something I couldn’t understand until being dad to my girls. The concepts played with in this film is amazing ! LOVE IT! Thankyou for your time you two.
All the movies I've watched from Denis Villeneuve end up being something else, like an experience that goes beyond what a movie usually brings and this was exactly that too. And I totally understand the emotional ending, it's quite the twist that makes you reflect on serious aspects of life, about how the journey is worth experiencing even if you know the end result. Thanks so much for this reaction!
The short story that this was based on was some serious sci-fi and some very serious exploration of languages. Brilliant - and the film translated it all really well (no pun intended). But the real kicker here was the new concept and perspective on Time. "In 3000 years we will need Humanity's help" is a brilliant line and the whole story of the language experts and their child, in the future, is very cleverly done. A truly brilliant SF film with genuinely alien aliens!
One of my favorite sci-films ever, and the first hit of Denis' trifecta followed by 'Blade Runner 2049' and 'Dune: Part One' and he'll make it a grand slam with 'Dune: Part 2' (sports analogies from a non-sports guy are always fun, right?).
He'll hit a 3 pointer for a touchdown, kabaddi!
His first hit was with Prisoners, though. That's what made him "famous" so to speak. Though all his filmography is fantastic tbh. Check out Incendies.
Yeah, but sicario is his best work so far.
@@keenanbartlome8153 Check out Incendies. It's a slow burner, but it has one of the most emotionally impactful endings I've ever seen. It might just be my fav film from him. It's a fucking masterpiece. Give it a look
I saw both this and BR2049 without knowing either was his. Guess I'll have to check out the Dune movies(once the second one is out)!
Yess..one of if not the greatest sci-fi of all time. Also "In the Nature of Daylight" by Max Ritcher 💓
The look on someone's face at the movie start is so priceless. She has the look as if Aliens actually landed and are about to take her whole family up for experiments in this spacecraft. This is why I love Simone so much, she takes all story-telling and visuals to heart. She empathizes completely with the characters in the movie as if she herself was going through the events as they are occurring. It's okay Simone, Just Breathe.
Cassie of Popcorn in Bed is the same way. She gets really worked up about stuff.
The intro (and end) music is "On the nature of daylight", by Max Richter, one of the most heartaking compositions ever writed. I allways have goosebumps (and some tears) when I hear it.
Love to see you react to "Her". Amy adams has a smaller role in that but its also a really surprising and intimate bit of scifi.
I second that! Scarlett Johansson left a deep impression on me without even being seen on screen! All the performances are excellent though - "Her" is a great film that I'd recommend to anyone.
It will be a great movie reaction :)
i can't stress enough how much i love this movie. every single time the movie starts and i hear the violin my eyes start to tear up, one of my favorite soundtracks of all time
I met my wife 11 years ago at the age 21. 5 months ago I lost her to a rare disease. I'm the days leading up to her death I was sitting in the family room at the hospital alone. A man came in who's wife was also in the ICU. He knew I needed to talk and he said to me "I'm not gonna tell you anything that will make you feel better, life doesn't work that way unfortunately, the only thing that will do that is gonna have to come from inside yourself. So let me offer some advice that might get you started on your journey. Can you remember the day you met your wife? Good, now what if I told you all I have to do is snap my fingers and youll travel back to that day but instead of meeting her you'll walk right by and it will be like she never existed " I had my eyes closed, when he said that I snaped then open and said "NO" he said "but look how bad it hurts right now , all this pain all these years, no deserves this, I'm going to snap my fingers you'll thank me someday I promise" I was heavily crying at that point I said "PLEASE DONT, I BREAK YOUR WHOLE FUCKING HAND OFF" and then he gave me a hug, he said "I know you don't feel lucky now, how could you, it's hard to even imagine, but the future can't erase the past, no matter what happens today, or tomorrow, the fact is the day you two met was the luckiest day of your life. And the luckiest day of hers, nothing the future has to offer can take that away from you, it's yours to keep, forever, the only way it can be taken away is if you take it away from yourself, if you decide that the pain your feeling now isn't worth it , and you look back at that moment and decide it was the worst day of your life. Don't let that happen". I saw him again once, a few days later, after I gave my wife her last sunflower 🌻 , just kike the one I got her on our first day,. And gave her our last kiss, just like the one I gave her on our first date. He just nodded to me as I walked away from her room. I don't know what happend to him after that. But I hope someone is able to do for him what he did for me.
😢
The movie did not make me cry, but your story did (not in a negative but a positive way).
E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind (both spielberg) and Starman (john carpenter) all go the good alien route, great movies.
Don't forget "Abyss" 🙃
Starman needs to be appreciated more.
also contact as well the aliens were good, they reached out humans to find them
This whole movie is like a palindrome. You see the end and the beginning first and then bits and pieces back and forth. It is also a connection to the daughter's name Hannah which also means "favor"
i love this film so much, one of the best in recent years imo... and no matter how often i've seen it, some scenes just get me teary instantly... "who is this child?" on the forefront of those
Another film that deals with themes of culture, different interpretations of symbols and first encounters is Mars Attacks.
Now that's a classic, really tight scifi movie that wastes little time and gets right to the meat of the interaction.
And they too came in peace.
Ack ack....ack Ack ACK!
@@trhansen3244 Why are you even here if you don't like the movie? I'll never understand this mindset.
@@cavinchon1 did you just say "For dark is the suede, which mows like a harvest"?
I appreciate that he nailed the non-linear even before it was mentioned. This is my favorite movie. And it always makes me cry at the beginning and the end.
If your interested in "good" aliens I would suggest Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". One of his earlier movies and one of my favorites, both inspiring and funny !
Absolute classic movie!
George is Richard Dreyfuss
The original The Day the Earth Stood Still, would also be a great watch.
Wonderful reaction from the both of you. Simone, I definitely felt your raw emotions there at the conclusion and wish that you could have taken a few hours to process before feeling the pressure of having to comment for us. Kudos for holding it together though. George, some of your comments throughout the course of the movie were so very perceptive. Kudos for that.
And Simone - this movie wrecked me too. You're not alone.
@@trhansen3244
Why?
It's a stone cold masterpiece. It resonates with me such that I think it must be my favourite of all time.
@@trhansen3244
I reckon I get to live a happier life than you. Whatever your blabbering actually is, at least I'm not the one doing it.
Re: "kangaroo". As Canadians, I'm a little surprised you weren't reminded of that famous "History" PSA, wherein a European explorer gestures over a valley containing a village and asks his Indigenous guide what the land is called. The guide responds, "Kanata", meaning, "village", assuming, very reasonably, that the European was asking the name of the thing he was pointing at, rather than some foolish metaphorical question he couldn't really hope to communicate as yet. Hence, "Canada".
George makes some good points about cultural assumptions, but I think he overlooks some universal elements. For example, the idea that sending more than one ship suggests intent beyond first contact, possibly hostile. While there's room for care about anthropomorphization, there's also, as George noted, the iron laws of mathematics/physics. 12 ships are harder to build and transport than 1, assuming conservation of energy hasn't been abrogated. Therefore, sending more ships than appears necessary for the intended job must be assumed to be suggestive. Similarly, the idea of colonization being a human artifact, which I'm not sure holds in a universe where, at least in the short term, stealing something is almost always easier than making it.
One must be careful about unwarranted assumptions, particularly the trap of assuming one's own experiences to be universal, but you can go too far in that direction, as well.
I understand the concerns about Sinophobia. At the same time, the fact that China is now a totalitarian ethno-supremacist fascist state under Xi's personal dictatorship with obvious intentions towards expanding his autocracy can hardly be overlooked. We know how that turned-out last time (hi, Chamberlain! You were kinda right, in terms of what you knew at the time, you poor bastard!), and how it will turn out every time, as explained by Karl Popper. Democracy and fascism cannot co-exist; you can only choose which eats the other, because one will. That whole "Great Han Race" thing is not going to end well for anyone, as it's just a palette-swap of white supremacism. I'd draw a parallel here with the need to differentiate between Putin and Russia in the current Ukraine invasion; Putin and Xi want to make these conflicts between "societies", rather than co-ordinated international and domestic efforts to overturn their
anti-democratic abuse and thievery.
In terms of "guessing", sometimes that's the only way forward. It's similar to brute-forcing a logic problem; you find the unknown variables, find their possible values, and just start plugging them in and running the numbers until you get the right one and the algorithm clicks. The important element tends to be remembering what was a guess, and what it was based on, so that if you run into trouble in the future, you remember which variables aren't solid in terms of the evidence for their assumed value.
'I used to think this was the beginning of your story.' The first line of the movie hints at the twist of the movie.
This movie reminds me of the novel 'Slaughterhouse 5'. The protagonist in that movie becomes 'unstuck' in time and can bounce around to other points of his life.
Also, when Hannah is playing Sherrif with her mom at ua-cam.com/video/nNpdyGsrL1k/v-deo.html doesn't it look like she's a heptopod?
She mentions Star Trek, he has a Brandon Sanderson t-shirt. Y'all watching one of my favorite movies of all time. I'm feeling an instant connection.
and Mass Effect!!! Favorite game.
Another friendly alien arrival movie is "Paul" where Seth Rogan is the Alien being kept in Area 51. It deserves a watch because in many people's minds it should really be a part of the Cornetto series.
@32:34 "If you know the story of your life..." Was that on purpose? Ted Chiang's novella was called "Story of Your Life."
This is one of my favorite movies. It's great because it causes us to think of humanity's shortcomings and our hatred of everything we consider foreign or alien.
It was for that reason that I found this incredibly cathartic to watch in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 American election.
You absolutely do not wanna send George to meet aliens. He’d be bouncing around like a child at the pic-n-mix and they’d immediately blow everyone up as a precautionary measure.
Hope you guys check more of Amy Adam’s dramatic works in films. She’s an incredible talent with such immense depth.
I love George geeking out over the science and Simon’s beautiful emotional response. I’m a sci-fi buff and I’m a linguist so I adore this movie.
Seeing this movie… I would like to recommend Nocturnal Animals and Annihilation
I've not seen Annihilation, but I have seen Nocturnal Animals. That is a real gut-punch of a movie. I'd love to see a reaction to that one.
This movie never fails to make me cry. The beautiful music and visuals combined with a smart script. Been a fan of Denis Villeneuve ever since.
Easily one of my favourite films of the '10's. The short story this is based on (Story of Your Life, by Ted Chiang) is an amazing blend of philosophy and SciFi. I worried when I heard a movie was to be made, but, then I heard it was Denis Villeneuve. The man can do no wrong. I think George for sure is going to dig this.
I've never watched a sci-fi movie that makes me cry every time I watch it. Even in this reaction video. There's something about the music and that mom child love that makes me feel so, so emotional. I'm convinced that Denis Villeneuve is one of the best directors nowadays. All his movies, up to now are great, simply great.
One of my favorite theory movies. This and Contact to me are connected.
“Small steps, Evie.”
Brilliant sci fi, and Simone said it best, that this becomes a whole new very emotional film in the final act.
Also I'm gonna second that George needs to watch The Next Generation. It is is the pinnacle of Science Fiction. No question about it.
Well, I would argue that Babylon 5 is the actual pinnacle. TNG is definitely excellent and he does undoubtedly need to see it.
@@wackyvorlon Seen both, Babylon 5 comes close, but TNG just has so much more to it. The characters and the writing is not only more interesting in TNG, but it's also tighter, more poignant and more straightforward. Which I think when trying to reach the "mass" audience, edges out Babylon 5 in favor of TNG.
The Critical Drinker (and myself) beg to strongly differ.
Arrival is based on a story by Ted Chiang, named "Story of Your Life." In the original, the mother is writing to her daughter, telling her the story of her life, just before the father asks whether the mother wants to make a baby. And the mom knows as she writes the story that the daughter won't live long enough to be given the story. 😢
Beautiful story. I loved it long before the movie came out. The book it's published in is named either "Stories of Your Life and Others" or "Arrival" (they changed the name for the movie tie-in).
George nailed it at the end - I'm sure someone has already mentioned that Ted Chiang's short story is called "Story Of Your Life". A great movie with big themes.
I like the wat she was teaching us her job. And that if she didn't do it correctly, we could be in trouble. Her acting really saves this story. She did her job.
All of Denis' films are fantastic. I'd recommend reacting to Prisoners, BR2049, Dune, Sicario, Enemy, and Incendies
The Hungarian word to which Halpern refers is "szalámitaktika." (In English, this translates to "salami tactics.") The word means to divide the opposition, in order to only have to face smaller, weaker enemies.
Thank you for reacting to this masterpiece. Love you guys.
@@trhansen3244 Obviously, there is no accounting for taste.
Slow down there fella we need to reserve "masterpiece" for...well actual masterpieces
Ah yes, the internet. Where nobody is allowed to have an oppinion, without being told how terrible wrong they are.
My philosophy is to let people express their love for something, without putting them down. You guys clearly understand how stupid that is.
Keep making the world a better place you lovely people.
This movie still gives me chills, in the best way, every time I watch it or watch a 1st-time reaction to it. The whole film is so smart, so well thought out, and the concepts are extremely captivating and compelling. The ending still makes me cry. Such an amazing masterpiece of storytelling.
This movie falls into a category I like to label "Adult Sci-fi"... No, George, not porn with aliens...science fiction for adults. You have movies like Star Wars and Star Trek that are mostly about the action and special effects, and then there's movies like this, Interstellar and others that use the sci-fi as merely a framework for the story, not the story itself. Thank you for watching it. As always, you two do a great job. Thanks!
Precisely. I like to differentiate between Sci-Fi as a genre and Sci-Fi as a setting.
The Genre of Sci-Fi is about "what if". Arrival, Minority Report, Blade Runner, and even I, Robot, Frankenstein, District 9 - They all pose a "what if" question "What if science changed this one simple thing about our world, what would happen?" and then explore how individual people adjust to that change, or how society as a whole deals with those changes.
Contrast that to Sci-Fi as a setting. Things like Star Wars, Fifth Element, most of the Marvel stuff, they're not questioning how their world came to be. Their reality has already been established. There's space ships and faster than light travel. there are aliens and we have diplomacy with them … Really? Space wizards that can mind control people came to be the peace keepers of the galaxy, how did that go over? Nobody objected? All these things have already happened and now we're telling a family story in this alternate universe. They're action movies, fantasy movies, or dramas. (btw, I'm not knocking these movies, they are great fun, I just wouldn't call them Sci-Fi.)
Great reaction. Love this movie and loving watching people react to it.
I've seen a few people mention the short story this was based on - "The Story of Your Life" - but haven't seen anyone else catch that Simone actually said it at the end, in a line that perfectly encapsulated the short story and film: "If you know the story of your life, you can have calm and acceptance..."
I was like the Leonardo DiCaprio meme pointing when she said it. 😀
I just noticed during this reaction that the daughter’s name is Hannah, a palindrome like the alien language. It shows not just that Louise is thinking the way the heptapods do, but also that she gets to relive her daughter’s life backwards and forwards because of her non-linear perception of time.
The fundamental question this movie asks is: If you knew the trajectory and terminus of your life, would you change it? And I love that we’re given several different answers. Abbott travelled all the way from the aliens’ home world knowing that he would die. Donnelly leaves Louise and Hannah because he can’t bear the knowledge that Hannah is going to die. And Louise marries Donnelly and gives birth to Hannah despite knowing the pain that she, Donnelly, and Hannah would feel. Because life is worth it. Living is worth it.
One of my favorite writers wrote, “Pain is for the living. Only the dead don’t feel it.” Even though pain sucks, and it does, life is still worth living, and the second we decide that it’s not, we lose what makes us human.
I think when you learn the language, the expression "change the future" doesn't make sense anymore. If you pay attention you can see that she practically lives in the present, the past and the future at the same time. For her, the future has already happened, is happening and will happen.
It’s interesting that Villeneuve chose 2 movies that both deal with the dilemma of knowing your future and if that knowledge is a trap. Dune part 2 will hopefully delve more into that.
@@kloazul That’s a good point. I hadn’t thought of it that way. You’re right. Time itself ceases to have any meaning for her.
Although this raises a question about the aliens needing help in 3000 years: 3000 years from when? When they left their home world? When they arrived on earth? When Louise understood? When the nations of the world united? When Abbott and Costello were born? When Abbott died?
How can you make a plan for the future of the future has already happened?
@@LokRevenant You don't; the future has already happened. Look at how Louise handled calling the Chinese general. She gets the idea in the present, but runs into a problem: she doesn't know the general's number or what to say. Cut to her remembering a future event where the general himself provides her with both his personal phone number AND tells her what to say to him to convince him.
That's what the aliens were doing on Earth.
@@Tantalus010 If the humans couldn’t change the future because it had already happened, then why did the aliens bother to come to earth in the first place?
Villeneuve is an absolute master director. I have loved every movie he's done.
“Self pulfilling fophecy” made me laugh too much, because I’ve said the exact same thing while in a conversation about the drug war where I also said “smug drugglers” and assumed something bad was happening in my brain.
This is one of my favourite movies of all time... There's no way i can explain how it affected me, but it did something amazing. I'm really glad you watched it. Denis Villeneuve is such an amazing director...
blade runner 2049 sicario and prisoners have to be on the list too! denis is so good
Yes, yes & yes. Also incendies too!! Man Denis!!
Yeah definitely incendies as well. That movie is probably my favorite of his after Arrival and Blade Runner
1. Black licorice jelly beans are the BEST!!
2. Humanity is SPECTACULARLY unprepared and unworthy of meeting extraterrestrial/alien life at this point in our development. The nasty, petty, paranoid, belligerent, feckless, myopic behavior of the characters we despised the most in this movie are an example of exactly what would happen, if not worse. I would love to be around when first contact happens, but I suspect we're probably thousands of years from being mature enough to handle it properly.
3. This really is an excellent movie. Loved every minute of it, and so glad you got to react to it.