Skip to main content

Film Essay: Arrival (2017)

Sci-fi adventure films coming out of Hollywood in last couple of years are exhibiting the elements of an art-project combined with a dark theme and very strong ethereal, emotional appeal. They are catering to an individual, rather than a group of spectators. These tales are more personal yet the elements they are associated with are universal. They are unifying force. They address a universal problem in general and being film-narratives always come out triumphant. As much as I was disappointed over my inability to discern the meaning and patterns of Nolan's Interstellar, I was equally fascinated by the scope, creative imagination and emotional schemes of it. It was an unforgettable cinematic experience. And the hero of the film, although personally despondent, was working for the benefits of humankind. In 2015, it was Deux-Ex Machina. Oscar Isaac and Alicia Wikander headlined it. It explored the narrative of AI-run-Robots and what they could possibly do to us humans if badly treated. It was a spectacular film, one with fabulous horror-movie feel and an ending that leaves you numb. But in 2016 came Arrival, starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker and for the first time in last 7 months, I was teary-eyed at the conclusion of a feature film. Sci-fis aren't engineered to leave you emotionally distraught if they are not E.T. and it wasn't but it was certainly more personal and emotionally heaving with strong linguistic and global feel at its core. How many times do you experience a feeling when immediately after watching a film, you wanna watch it again? It's not exactly a feel where you don't want a film to ever end but it's altogether different. You wanna move on but would like to keep it as your companion. Absolutely enthralling. And Amy Adams once again proves that Hollywood might keep denying her credentials in field of acting but there will be enough storylines, character-arcs and Directors to keep her engrossed and in turn, us motivated.

For once, Academy has done a most wonderful thing by nominating this film for a best film Oscars and for doing that, I might even forgive them for snubbing Martin Scorsese's 'Silence' and it's headliner, Liam Neeson. Do watch 'Arrival' and try to look out for themes I talked about. It's liberating!!!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Leftovers: A Very 'Special' HBO Production

Three things that have occupied my mind for last three days in descending order of importance are: Justin Trudeau, Heinrich Klassen and The Leftovers. I am going to write here about the least important entity for I am likely to forget about it most urgently. The Leftovers is an HBO production and like the most HBO productions, it makes for a great television experience. I chose to watch it for two reasons: First, it was only three season long with 28 episodes in total and secondly, for two years running, it was the best TV show in American Landscape. There was a third reason as well and it was in the name of its creator's promise. Damon Lindelof is one of the brightest American minds and he gave us 'Lost' all those years back. I have been a huge fan of 'Lost' and till this time, gush about its fantastical and mythical elements. People still find it very hard to crack the mysteries of Lost and when a show leaves you with more questions than the answers after its 8
Post a Comment
Read more

Phillip Seymour Hoffman : An Obituary

Phillip Seymour Hoffman was one of the modern acting greats. You can always identify and isolate him in an ensemble cast. Give him just two-three lines in a 150-180 minutes long feature film and still he would enthrall the audience with his magic and aura and come out on top. People and critics alike bestowed countless superlatives upon him in a career spanning over more than two decades but whether any one of those adjectives ever managed to justify his cinematic craft, I seriously doubted. He was unprecedented and unsurpassed in the practice of cinematic artistry and thus emerged as America’s greatest character actor ever, period. Paul Giamatti is his worthy successor and hopefully he would calm and soothe our nerves with his finest performances in times to come in Phillip’s absence. Phillip ultimately was a show-stealer, a rabble-rouser, an aloof but a sympathizing marvelous human being who marveled in Hollywood though always residing at its sidelines. I first saw him playing a y
Post a Comment
Read more

Book Review: Unanswered

'Unanswered' is a book penned by Mr. Kunal Uniyal and it's his third book. I am calling it a book, using a common noun to describe it and I have a good enough reason for doing so. It's a book that consists off both poems and prose and I was in real dilemma picturing its prognosis in my mind. It started with a poem named 'You and I' and beautiful it was, all poised and lyrical. And then came a snippet of a prose by the name 'Life of a Yogi'. They were really not connected and I was perplexed. Then I allowed myself some comfort and decided to dig up some more. Some more beautiful poems and accompanying yet again not quite related passages of prose followed but now they looked more in shape and very much in order. Now I was beginning to realize that there was more to this book than met my eyes earlier and it's scope is much wider that what I originally thought. You are required to engage yourself with this book and once you do that, you will know you ar
Post a Comment
Read more