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thats what she said
Denis Villeneuve's Sci-Fi Drama ARRIVAL (93% Rotten Tomatoes)
- Thread starter Dragonlordxxxxx
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thats what she said
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10/10 - maybe the best sci fi movie I've ever seen. I had no problem understanding it at all, but that's probably because I love reading about scientific theories and I studied linguistics as a subsection of anthropology in university. So here's some explaining for you all...
Now maybe someone can explain something to me. Louise told the Colonel to ask the dude at Berkely what the Sanskrit translation for "war" meant and when the Colonel returns to recruit her they have this bit of dialogue:
Colonel: "I asked him what it meant. He said __________. What do you think it means?"
Louise: "It means _________."
Colonel: "Pack your bags."
Can anyone tell me what they said? I couldn't make it out over the helicopter noise and it's driving me crazy.
Learning the alien language changed the way she percieved reality. This already happens in our own world, ie. some languages have different words for different shades of blue and those speakers therefore perceive those two shades quite distinctly, whereas and English speaker can't see that they are actualy different shades. I believe this is Russian I'm referencing, but I can't be sure of that. German, which has amazing words like Schadenfreude and a word that means a face that needs a fist hitting it, might produce speakers with entirely different emotional capacities than a totally different language.
So in learning their language she perceives reality differently, in a non-linear fashion. Due to the limitations of the film medium, we were shown this as scattered snippets of information. what it really means is that all of reality happens simultaneously, we just can't percieve it that way. The Heptapods can and, therefore, can't draw the distinctions between the future and past that we can. They can experience all those events simultaneously. When they said, "Time is running out." it's because they were actually experiencing that crisis 3000 years in the future as they said it.
As Louise gets better at speaking the language she will likely experience her entire life simultaneously, but in the events depicted in the movie she was only starting to percieve her life that way. The General giving her that vital information in the future was an inuitive action based on what he experienced that momentous day and what he's learned about the heptapods since then.
The opening footage of the movie, with her and her daughter, was not Louise experiencing flashbacks. It was simply us being presented information that we see throughout the movie and then at the end. We were given the opportunity to perceive time simultaneously. Lousie only started doing that partway through and had no idea what she was looking at.
The final scene in the movie is the most powerful, imo. What it means is that Louise has now experienced the wonderful life and horrible death of her daughter... and chose to experience it all anyways. She (bravely, imo) chose to experience the incredible joy of a mother's love even though she knew it would also mean the incredible pain of a mother's loss.
The reason her husband left (and no longer looked at the daughter the same) is because Louise warned him what would happen to their daughter and he couldn't forgive her for deciding that he would also experience that kind of pain. It was all in that single moment that she, with all her heart, said she wanted to have a baby, and he had no idea what would happen later.
So in learning their language she perceives reality differently, in a non-linear fashion. Due to the limitations of the film medium, we were shown this as scattered snippets of information. what it really means is that all of reality happens simultaneously, we just can't percieve it that way. The Heptapods can and, therefore, can't draw the distinctions between the future and past that we can. They can experience all those events simultaneously. When they said, "Time is running out." it's because they were actually experiencing that crisis 3000 years in the future as they said it.
As Louise gets better at speaking the language she will likely experience her entire life simultaneously, but in the events depicted in the movie she was only starting to percieve her life that way. The General giving her that vital information in the future was an inuitive action based on what he experienced that momentous day and what he's learned about the heptapods since then.
The opening footage of the movie, with her and her daughter, was not Louise experiencing flashbacks. It was simply us being presented information that we see throughout the movie and then at the end. We were given the opportunity to perceive time simultaneously. Lousie only started doing that partway through and had no idea what she was looking at.
The final scene in the movie is the most powerful, imo. What it means is that Louise has now experienced the wonderful life and horrible death of her daughter... and chose to experience it all anyways. She (bravely, imo) chose to experience the incredible joy of a mother's love even though she knew it would also mean the incredible pain of a mother's loss.
The reason her husband left (and no longer looked at the daughter the same) is because Louise warned him what would happen to their daughter and he couldn't forgive her for deciding that he would also experience that kind of pain. It was all in that single moment that she, with all her heart, said she wanted to have a baby, and he had no idea what would happen later.
Now maybe someone can explain something to me. Louise told the Colonel to ask the dude at Berkely what the Sanskrit translation for "war" meant and when the Colonel returns to recruit her they have this bit of dialogue:
Colonel: "I asked him what it meant. He said __________. What do you think it means?"
Louise: "It means _________."
Colonel: "Pack your bags."
Can anyone tell me what they said? I couldn't make it out over the helicopter noise and it's driving me crazy.
Last edited:
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Beautiful, thank you. I love that line.
I don't think it was the actor's fault: they weren't given direction to act like they were screaming over a helicopter and then the sound editor cranked up the chopper sound effects, imo.
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I'll just copy what I posted in the recently watched movies thread
arrival (2016) 8.5/10. Wow, went in with an open mind after hearing some non spoiler reviews. It lived up to everything I expected, amy adams was on point. some real subtle moments here and there and shot beautifully. It leaves you asking questions, not about the movie itself (although there were a few) but questions about what would you have done in that situation.
don't go into this movie expecting an alien movie similar to independence day etc. I went in with that in mind and truly enjoyed the whole film.
arrival (2016) 8.5/10. Wow, went in with an open mind after hearing some non spoiler reviews. It lived up to everything I expected, amy adams was on point. some real subtle moments here and there and shot beautifully. It leaves you asking questions, not about the movie itself (although there were a few) but questions about what would you have done in that situation.
don't go into this movie expecting an alien movie similar to independence day etc. I went in with that in mind and truly enjoyed the whole film.
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Went into the movie expecting something good. At the point where they first went into the alien craft I was thinking, yeah, now cool stuff is going to start happening. Then as the movie progressed, I kept thinking maybe now it's going to happen! And, lo and behold, not a single thing ever happened in the whole movie. The end.
No, I was not looking for independence day 3. I generally read cerebral sci-fi and nonfiction, and I don't know anyone who is as widely read in these areas, so I'd say I know this genre. My low opinion of the movie can't be blamed on me being a Chad.
No, I was not looking for independence day 3. I generally read cerebral sci-fi and nonfiction, and I don't know anyone who is as widely read in these areas, so I'd say I know this genre. My low opinion of the movie can't be blamed on me being a Chad.
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what did you want to happen?
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something that was more than nothing + a sappy love story.
Also the time travel plot device was really lame.
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Just saw this and really enjoyed it. Original and refreshing take on the alien contact (sub)genre. Also got me interested in the science/math behind human language. Highly recommended although I can see why it wouldn't be for everyone
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Wanted to see more of the Aliens.
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I read the spoiler on wiki
It sounds good up until the end.
kind of stupid. The alien's written language helps people see the future. That is so gay
It sounds good up until the end.
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I enjoy this movie as well. It's a breath of fresh air to see a good sci-fi that does not rely on special effects to entertain the audience but with interesting story instead.
My minor nitpick is of all the country that ended up to being hostile to alien, China was depicted as being the one that does it. That just seem unlikely given that the Chinese culture heavily influenced by Confucianism often cite patience as being one of the more important virtues. Having worked here, I also noticed that the communication is also more nuanced which a lot of foreigner unfamiliar with the culture/language often perceive their way to be deceptive. I could see Putin's Russia being the first one especially if there are two UFOs in its territory.
My minor nitpick is of all the country that ended up to being hostile to alien, China was depicted as being the one that does it. That just seem unlikely given that the Chinese culture heavily influenced by Confucianism often cite patience as being one of the more important virtues. Having worked here, I also noticed that the communication is also more nuanced which a lot of foreigner unfamiliar with the culture/language often perceive their way to be deceptive. I could see Putin's Russia being the first one especially if there are two UFOs in its territory.
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Watched this last night. Amazing movie, possibly best of 2016 i've seen so far.
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Sounds like you were in fact expecting Independence Day 3. The movie remains interesting through out. We don't need alien warfare to be an entertaining movie
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you couldn't be more wrong. I hate everything about common action "sci-fi" blockbusters.
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I freakin LOVED this movie.
I was laying down and thinking about it the other night. SPOILERS Coming
By the end, she knows she can see into the future, and the flashbacks she was having of her daughter were actually visions of the future. The choice she had, that her daughter would eventually die but yet she decided to have a kid and that is why her husband left her.
Overall, it was a fantastic movie with a great message.
I was laying down and thinking about it the other night. SPOILERS Coming
By the end, she knows she can see into the future, and the flashbacks she was having of her daughter were actually visions of the future. The choice she had, that her daughter would eventually die but yet she decided to have a kid and that is why her husband left her.
Overall, it was a fantastic movie with a great message.
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I liked this movie. The idea was very unquie with the whole language changes the way you think angle. The whole child thing was awesome. I thought it was a child she had and lost already. Then I thought it was the aliens trying to talk to her in her dreams or something.
