I was expecting a generic alien invasion movie, and I was pleasantly surprised
Now you need to watch the 1996 classic "The Arrival"!
this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2025
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So good. I think I listed it as my favorite movie for a while.
Genuinely one of the best movies of all time IMO
Alien Linguistics. Love this movie
spoiler
I didn't care for it at all, I felt the memory as time travel thing to be weaksacue, and I felt ripped off at the end of watching it, plus I don't like her very much at all
As someone with differing opinions from the zeitgeist on a variety of topics, I appreciate your sincere and well-reasoned dissention
Same, tbh. I can't say I felt ripped off, but it was definitely a disappointment.
I get into Sci Fi, time travel and obscure concepts, and I have to agree with you mainly. It ended and I kinda felt like, "yeah OK". Another person here has said that it should be watched again. Like what, did I miss something ? Anyway, it's entertainment and each to their own. Maybe I should watch it again one day, but it will be a while.
It depends. What were you expecting and what was your takeaway after watching? Because to me, it didn’t have anything to do with the time travel or scifi aspects at all.
The main point of the film is summed up with the line “If you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?”. It was about free will and the main character’s decision to let things play out knowing her daughter will die at an early age, because if she didn’t have her, she wouldn’t have experienced the life she had with her daughter at all. It’s a philosophical story wrapped in a scifi film.
I think the impact, if any, that it has on the viewer depends on their answer to that question. I enjoyed the movie, but thought the characters acted like emotionally rife teenagers, and that the decisions they made were wrong. I've never felt like rewatching it. I'd make a bet that all of the others in the comments who absolutely loved the movie agreed with the characters' ultimate decisions.
That part of the story was heavily hollywoodized. I highly recommend reading the original story.
I'm in the same boat. I enjoyed the short story more, but mostly because it didn't feel as over the top. The wacky alien mechanic works better in print IMO.
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the short story/novel its derived from is also pretty good
Pretty good? It destroyed me
Yup. I couldn't shake the feeling of sorrow after watching this movie. Like it just clung to me...
Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life won a Nebula for best novella and a Theodore Sturgeon award, and was nominated for a Hugo for best novella.
Yeah, it's pretty good.
I don't remember much about the movie, but isn't it one of the movies where time gets wacky?
Almost
Spoiler
Memories are what get wacky. The main character (as well as the aliens who "arrive") can remember the future as well as the past due to learning the alien language. It's based on the possibly-not-linguistically-sound Sapir-Wharf hypothesis that says the language you speak influences the way you think. The aliens use a circular rather than linear writing system so they think of time in a non-linear way
I watched it because Lingthusiasm has a podcast episode about it and loved it too!
B E A N
space bean