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Arrival is one of my favourite sci fi movies. Thanks for choosing it. I’ve been watching different channels react to it, And one thing I was hoping someone would comment on was - How on earth did they get back down after being in the ship? Do they jump down to the platform and hope they don’t miss?🤔
My favorite part is that it’s not really “seeing the future”. It’s non linear. So it’s more like all of time happening all at once. Which is why she could already see the future in the past before she learned to see the future. It’s just all the same thing. God, that’s cool ❤️
As I understood it, she didn't see the future at the beginning. She was the narrator of her own story. But the visions and the questionnements about it started when she first saw there language and gazed into it trying to understand. The beginning and the little speech at the end could be just her at the end of the movie rethinking how things came.
@@MrHello6999 so you didn't understand the film "Production designer Patrice Vermette designed the logograms to be circular, representing how way the aliens think about time cyclically instead of in a straight line. As Louise learns the language, she also begins gradually experiencing visions of her future, a sign that she too is beginning to experience time differently."
@@p.rd.5504 I struggle with conceptualizing various facets of time, so appreciate the concreteness of the use of “beginning.” Wouldn’t she “always” know the General’s number once he gave it to her? Including just before meeting him?
I just love the way they keep calling out the condescending men in this movie, “I don’t understand why they keep questioning her. She’s the expert dude!” 😂 ❤
To be a little fair to the Colonel, he was getting pressured and instead of telling her what to do was asking her _why_ she was doing things that way. He needed to understand enough to be able to fire that answer back. He was at least smart enough to know he didn't know the best process.
@@lizjewelry the universal female experience. The fact a bunch of men kept interrupting and doubting the expert throughout the movie was the most realistic part to me lol
@@stephenryan1912 Kinda mixed on that one. Widow, in common English usage, typically means a woman who's spouse had died. A man who's spouse had died is usually called a widower in modern English. From some quick research, it seems like widow was a general term until about the 14th century with the distinction becoming more common by the 19th century. Maybe it's going back the other way now and I just don't know about it, but I think in common usage there is still a distinction.
The thing is, Louise sees all of time at once, so her having Hannah means she will always have her, long before her birth and long after her death. She will always be a mother and always be loving and grieving her child, all at once.
Seriously one of the best plot twists in recent history. I remember when the realization dawned on me what I was seeing and I immediately wanted to re-watch the film to put those scenes at the beginning in context. Great story.
Amy Adams giving the most humane and grounded performance in a modern sci-fi film and then being snubbed for best actress nomination will always baffle me what a masterpiece love the reaction
I loved Amy Adams and she truly gave a lovely, nuanced performance, but I don't necessarily feel like she was snubbed for this particular role. Plus, I always thought that Sandra Bullock's win for Gravity in 2013 might've affected the voters' opinions. Because as terrific as Amy was in Arrival, Sandy gave a phenomenal performance in her sci-fi film, and when one compares the two, Sandy's performance is on top.
She was better in Nocturnal Animals that year. If you want to be mad, be mad about that and not this performance. It isn't one of the top 5 performances of the year, it isn't even Amy Adams best performance that year.
@@IndieCindy3 Sandra Bullock never won for Gravity, she won for Blind side. Amy did deserve to get nominated, it is a brilliant performance. Meryl Streep shouldn't have been nominated for the Florence movie which no one speaks of.
@@sbasi2739 ah, you're right! She didn't win, but she was nominated (and the year was actually 2014, ha). Aside from that, I still stand by what I said.
This movie is one of my favorites , I love the way it’s done! My favorite scene is when Louise remembers how her story will play out with Ian and says that she forgot how good it felt to be held by him when she hugged him. The tragedy / beauty with knowing that their story is just beginning and they’ll have many happy memories but also knowing it’ll be temporary like ughh my heart 😩
I don't think there's really any question about whether you'd have the child or not because Louise experiences time differently. For Louise, it's not some theoretical possible child: it's her daughter that she gave birth to, raised, and loved. I'm sure you'd be hard-pressed to find any parent who's lost a child that wishes the child had just never been born. I think it'd be the same for Louise. Great reaction, guys! Thanks for sharing.
But on the flip side, Ian was angry with Louise because he didn't tell her beforehand, to the point he chose not to be around his daughter as much. So maybe not every parent? I imagine he felt like she didn't give him a choice, and now knowing the outcome, he may have felt like he would've said no. It's kinda like how people get angry at God when this happens, feeling like "Why would you give me my child, only to take them away? Why would let them be born?" He's trying to cope with the immense pain by blaming Louise, as she was kind of a god in that situation. Like you said, Louise already knew her daughter, so there was no question. But since Ian didn't, he probably felt betrayed that she didn't consider the pain he'd be in. I imagine knowing he could've had a choice to avoid that pain is causing him to maybe wish he'd been able to say "No", to choose for her never to have been born.
@@lunacouer It's not only this. I think Ian felt left out of the loop. He didn't "live" the language as Louise did. He would never understand. Additionally his wife became famous with her book about this new language and started traveling the world and hold lectures about it. This can be detrimental to a persons ego. A sad, but a realistic outcome in life.
@@lunacouerno, i think he was mad because she DID tell him, and so then he is looking at his daughter differently, knowing she will soon get very sick and die. So he is struggling with that, and angry at louise for telling him and angry that she knew all along and equally kept it from him. He loves his child and is still around her, being a dad, just struggling.
@@holi117 I can see that too. Perhaps a little bit of column A, a little bit of column B. I imagine there'd be a whole lotta complex emotions in a situation like that.
45:45 THAT is what makes this movie so powerful! To lose a child is horrible but to know it will happen and go through with it anyway . . . You have to decide if the love and time together is worth it. I choke up every time I watch this movie or even people reacting to it ♥
The depth of writing, ingenious editing, the purposeful imagery and rich dialogue have created one of the most significant revelations in a film over the last few decades. This movie still sticks with me and impacts my perspective since seeing it in the theater in 2016. I was fortunate to meet the cinematographer Bradford Young in 2022 (look him up-you’ll be impressed with his impressive career). And I was able to tell him how much this film and its intelligence and symbolism affected me.
43:33 a little detail I don't think ppl pick up on is that the Chinese man also sees time the way Louise does. It's why he freaked out and declared war on the aliens. He probably had no idea what was going on, and it's why he very purposefully gives her his personal phone number and tells her what to say to him in the past, and then thanks her. He knows exactly what he's doing.
One my all time favorite movies. Absolutely incredible. Made me forever look at language differently. It’s also so interesting to rewatch the movie and see what assumptions you make because of the “knowledge” that you have. For instance, early in the movie when we “know” that she has recently lost her daughter we assume her behavior is a result of grief. Rewatching the movie knowing that that isn’t the case, you can see that she is actually not grieving but definitely dissatisfied and perhaps bored or depressed with her life. And seeing that she chooses to marry and have her daughter anyway knowing whats to come, really speaks to the joy and meaning that’s those 2 relationships bring to her life. What a gorgeous movie. Definitely not fast and action packed but I have never found it boring. And the main theme song “on nature of daylight” is absolutely my favorite film score. A beautiful song for a beautiful film
Nice analysis. As a bilingual person (English/Japanese) I’ve noticed that my personality actually changes as I switch from one language to the other for an extended period of time. My dreams are actually different. Language wires your brain
Think about this, you can say words to another person and cause chemical changes in their brain. That's called feelings, and when you think about it that way, it's literally magic, you're speaking thoughts into reality.
I have said this on other reactions to this great movie. My wife died of cancer. Had I known that was gonna happen in advance, I still wouldn't change a thing. She brought so much to my life and made me who I am today.
One of my favorite like “alien invasion” movies without the action so visibly pleasing and the plot twist I couldn’t have guessed the storyline was really good ✨👏🏾
'I just wanna sit down with Louise and learn, I want her to teach me everything' meeeeeee the whole movie I swear like I would've signed up for her classes so quick, she was explaining all of it soooo beautifully. I'm so curious about linguistics and phonetics but after some time my brain would short-circuit from too much info I'm sure
Being a linguist myself, the rewiring of the brain Ian talked about really caught my attention. With Louise at the beginning talking about she didn't believe in endings or beginnings anymore and with the "call your father" for the "non zero sum game", it hit me like a bolt right then and there.
I'm also a linguist, and my whole thesis was about how learning a second language changes your perception and the way you think. I just watched this movie for the first time a week ago and I immediately loved it!
@@regtravels8697woahh I’ve always thought being a linguist was one of the most interesting careers. What exactly do you study nowadays? Favorite language?
I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and especially the whole alien genre, and I'm with you Rob, I love that they aliens in the movie aren't your typical bipedal humanoid looking creature. It's such a unique and creative film!
So, a couple of fun facts: Universal language is absolutely a real thing. However, in reality it doesn't refer to any alien language. Rather, it's the idea that there was, at one time, there may have been a language that was understood by all or most people. Universal grammar is a very key linguistics term that refers to the rules that govern all known languages. Basically, all known languages on Earth fall within the boundaries of certain types of orthography, syntax, phonology, etc. Also, the movie mentions the idea that speaking different languages may result in a "rewiring of your brain". This actually probably has some basis in real science, although the movie takes it a lot further than is probably viable. The example I always give is that people's ability to perceive colors can change depending on their native language. For example, some languages, such as English, distinguish between red and pink as separate colors. While other languages consider pink to be just a light shade of red. It has been found that the distinction between red and pink, linguistically, can actually affect how much attention a person will pay to noticing pink. This idea is called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Studies have actually been done about this hypothesis in regard to time. In the study they compared English speakers, who tend to measure times in units of length, to Swedish speakers, who measure time in units of volume. What the test subjects said about how much time had passed changed depending on whether they were watching something increase in volume or in length. This suggests there may be a kernel of truth to the whole "your language changes your perception of time" idea shown in the video. Pretty interesting, right?
After I first saw this, I immediately thought that we already have a language that foretells the future. If we all tell ourselves that some people will always be poor, hungry, and subject to violence for others and that there is nothing we can do to change that, then that is what will happen. If we all tell otherwise, then something different can happen.
Am fluent in 3 languages and this just made me realize that there is no Malayalam term for pink and even the Hindi/Urdu term is "Gulabi" which basically translates to rosy cause gulab is rose, and the origin of the term gulab is actually Persian which is just gul+ab, that is rose+ water. There is no meaning inherently associated w the term pink used in Hindi but simply that it is associated w rose, and Malayalam simply uses pink or rose to define it, there's no original term. Wow language really is amazing, so are there man made institutions just to decipher and give meaning. Foucault talks a lot about the same. This movie is so profound w it's story, music, cinematography, everything!
Watching 3 stoners seemingly blazed out of their gourds, attempting to process and understand one of the most thought provoking and intricate 'alien first contact' science fiction films of our time, was one of the funniest and most enjoyable react experiences I've ever had. The sheer look of awe and confusion at times, even from the guy who had seen it, was great.
I love that the title is 'The Arrival', NOT referring to the aliens necessarily. It's the story of the arrival of her child. The beginning (end?) of her story. AMAZING film.
I just finished rewatching this literally minutes ago! Arrival's up there in my list of most favorite sci-fi movies. It's so intelligently and beautifully made. This is also where I came to admire Amy Adams for the very first time. Glad you've watched it.
Probably my favorite movie of all time. What a fucking twist, absolutely blew my mind. And I think the message of the movie is really beautiful too. So good
Definitely one of the best movies I’ve ever seen - I don’t think the choice to have her daughter was as simple as choosing not to. Once she had seen her, seen Hannah, she came to know and love her as she was. I think it’s less a choice not to, but a choice to undo who her daughter was. I don’t think there’s any parent, even if their child died of incurable disease well before their time, who would choose to stop the child they knew and loved from having been. It’s such a deep and complex story, it’s hard to not pause and think on it
I love all the movies that have come out in recent years that are inspiring people to think about time in new ways. It's a lot weirder and more flexible than we usually believe.
I'm so happy y'all watched this movie, it's one of my absolute favorites! Bryce saying "after the loss of her daughter" twice had me cracking up just waiting for the twist. I'm glad y'all enjoyed it!
Right?? I'm imagining how much humanity would progress and what we could discover over 3,000 years if we perceived time nonlinearly. And then to think that some inherent characteristic of our humanity might be a unique asset to help solve whatever problem the heptapods would be facing. Is it a problem that only affects them or is there some sort of threat to all of us? Fascinating stuff to think about.
Loved your reaction, was looking forward to this one; and one of my favourite films of all time. The General's wife’s last words are “In war there are no winners, only widows.”
53:11 well I loved it! It's a quality film and this was definitely one of my more favorite movie reactions from you guys. I wasn't necessarily expecting to laugh during this reaction, but you guys manage to bring the funny just by being yourselves and the dynamic you share. It was fun to see you piecing the story together. I for sure am all for more sci-fi on this channel! In fact, if you enjoyed Arrival, Gravity is a sci-film that came out 2013, just a few years before it, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. The film takes place in outer space. It's beautiful and terrifying; one of the best films. Leaves you with an appreciation for life and our planet.
I love how you start thinking it's an alien movie and at the end you realize it's really about family and humans and the choices we make. This is based on a short story called The Story of Your Life. The author was my daughter's writing mentor in college.
One of my favorit sci-fi movie along side Interstellar. I think most of people don't get the movie from the first watch but im already like this movie from first time watch.
I saw this a few days ago. For the second time. First time was back when it released. But I remember being confused and not Liking it. This time I sobbed at the end. I don’t know why. This mothers story moved me so much. The way this story is told is so cool. It’s unlike any other movie.
Everyone who decides to have a kid at all is pretty much making the same choice as Louise. I understand the, “No parent should have to bury their child” notion, but hey, whoever you bring into the world is going to suffer and die.
The scene with the clouds falling from the mountain is real and was shot in the Bas-St-Laurent region in Quebec, Canada...these are lands near the St-Laurent river and it is very foggy sometimes
46:16 'Would you still have the baby knowing it was going to die...?' I think this is a common misunderstanding with this movie, and it's one that Ian makes as well (one of a handful of things I find slightly implausible). The analogy is something like finding an unborn child has a genetic disorder in the womb and deciding whether to go through with the pregnancy or not, but it isn't really like that. Louise isn't seeing a Swatchbook of possible futures. Humans learning the heptapod language doesn't change reality, it changes how time is perceived. It's reminiscent of The Oracle's line in The Matrix Reloaded, 'Because you didn't come here to make the choice, you've already made it.' Louise has to have the baby because it happens.
Another detail is the reason Abbott is always late is because he knew he would die, so he was hesitating every time I also think this time she won't tell Ian about what happens with Hannah
I watched this for the first time in my creative writing class, we would watch it in parts and write down what we thought would happen based on the information in each part. I dont remember what I wrote on mine(It was like 5 years ago) but I really enjoyed that class. But I do remember I guessed that the stuff with the daughter were in the future, I remember the teacher had us all talk about it one day and I said that aloud and everyone was debating it and I remember I felt really smart when it was revealed. XD She also named her kid Hannah because its a Palindrome, it's spelt the same way forward and backwards. Also I 100% stand by the fact that I think Squid, Octopus, and Jellyfish are aliens who landed on the planet billions of years ago.
I’m gonna preface my comment by saying that I’ve never had a kid let alone lost one. So I may not fully b able to understand the movie premise. But I have been thru some really terrible crap in my life. And when it comes to that I kinda get not wanting to change anything. Maybe not embracing it, but def not changing it. If I didn’t go thru what I did I wouldn’t b the person I am today. Our experiences shape us. I think that’s maybe the premise of this movie. Just my thoughts.
As a parent and foster parent, its not an easy choice. SO MUCH LOVE you experience, who I become as a person, the happiest job ive ever had being a daddy, so much happiness paid for by a lifetime of mourning... Its not an easy choice.
The book version was much sadder for her daughter. Hannah originally dies falling off a mountain while rock climbing with her friends. In this version, it's at least a little easier to swallow. Having a child still knowing she gets a disease could be argued that she still valued her life; Hannah's friends and family and life influencing others could still hold value to her. Like, "She may get a disease but her being able to experience life and influence the world is important too". Rather than the book, it felt especially cruel to have to be fine with letting your daughter die vs knowing there isn't anything you can do about it. If she has a rare disease; she still gets to live happy. If she dies falling from a mountain; her mother allowed her to go to that trip and ultimately die. There doesn't seem to show any repercussions with changing things in the past or future since it's not time travel. So she could've made her daughter not go, not befriend those people, or not be interested in sports at all. The disease death seems way nicer.
I think she didn't have much of a choice, she already felt the love for her "future" daughter, she already misses her, like she said to Ian when they hug she forgot how good it is to be hugged by him. That's sad, but well said "despite knowing the journey and where it leads I embrace and accept every moment of it."
This movie is adapted from the novella "Story of you life" by Ted Chiang and it's a masterpiece and heartbreaking. Ted Chiang is a jenius writer, he's not prolific, wrote just two collections of stories, but they're all mind blowing.
They said that in 3,000 years they would need the humans' help. So they wanted to make sure that as many humans as possible knew their language by that time. She was chosen as the one to start nurturing that seed and that future on earth by introducing their language into human culture on earth. Very deep movie.
What she said to the Chinese General, which is her wife’s dying words are : 战争不成就英雄，只会带来孤儿寡母。 A war doesn’t make anyone hero. It will only make widows and orphans.
Ian and Louise go though a long told hypothetical. For Louise, the life and happiness her daughter experiences is worth her ending, for Ian, that ending isn’t worth the pain. It’s a question that is hard to answer.
I LOVE scific concepts like this. Another underrated gem I think you guys should watch is Annihilation. Arrival, Annihilation, and Aliens are probably my top 3 favorite scifi movies featuring an alien force of some kind, though all three address this very differently.
I think the beautiful thing about this, is yes, knowing the future is dangerous, however if everyone knows it, nobody has any advantage. That's why she united the nations, how could there be conflict if everyone knows the future? Furthermore, if we know the future, we can always make the right decision. Louise single-handedly catapulted humanity into an era of peace and prosperity the likes of which the world had never seen.
I realized while watching your reaction even though I’ve seen this movie a couple times is a theme of this move is that it’s better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all. She chose to have her daughter and love her and then lose her than to not have her at all.
I appreciate the Colonel's character. He's a soldier, not a linguist or a scientist. He has to juggle with the superiors wanting answers fast and his team of scientists, and when he doesn't understand why things are done a certain way, he simply asks to be explained and learns. He doesn't speak over Louise, and follows her lead when it's about her field, but obviously has to take matters into his own hand when it's a military issue.
Every sentient parent who has ever given birth, as far as we know, has given birth knowing their child would die. All of them. Life has a 100% fatality rate so far.
Ya’ll I had just become a new mother when this film came out and I saw it in theaters too. I was in a puddle of tears at the end and still whenever I watch it bc it’s such a tough choice. I am sure she feels all the emotions she feels in the future as a mother. No matter how fleeting I honestly feel there is no greater joy. Please watch Riding in Cars with Boys because Brittany Murphy’s character said it best: “Sometimes we love people so much that we have to be numb to it. Because if we actually felt how much we love them, it would kill us.”
Every person dies. If you have a baby, the baby will eventually die. It's hard for the parent if their child dies before them, but regardless the child will eventually die. I've seen lots of people question Louise's choice to have Hannah, but the reality it's the same choice everyone makes. Life is in the journey, not in the end. Whether it's lived in order or non-liniarly!
Imagine the gift of their language is the ability to perceived time as non linear but as something is has occurred, will occur and is occurring all at the same time. Her "flash backs" was her already experiencing time travelling through their language. What a wild concept and I'm a polyglot😅. They needed humanity's help in 3000 years so imagine all those who learn the language bruh.
When Ian asks about "making a baby" he doesn't know what Louise does and proposes without knowing their daughter will get sick. It's what leads to him disagreeing with what Louise decided on her own, when he later finds out she knew but didn't tell before irreversible choices were made. I love this movie, I truly do but I can not ignore what Louise did on her own when Ian was equally as important in that decision and was kept in the dark about it.
I watched this opening night. I was trying to cheer myself up cause it was the anniversary of my daughters birth and death. Of all the movies I could’ve walked into 🥲 It’s a beautiful movie and beautiful story. One of my favorite sci-fi movies for sure
Omg I loveeeee Arrival!!! It is incredibly made and it is an amazing story If you have the time I highly recommend reading the short story it was based on, “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang, it blew my mind when I first read it
The thing about language rewiring your brain is actually true. I had a stroke and I've had major memory issues ever since. I just couldn't retain any information. However, I started studying Korean and, after a while, my memory noticeably improved. It's rewiring my brain to compensate for the stroke damage.
Back when people first started mining coal, they would bring in a canary in a cage with them, mainly because the gasses produced in coal mines are colorless and odorless, and because canaries are extremely sensitive to changes in air quality, if the miners got into the mine, and they came to a pocket of gas, they wouldn't know it if they didn't bring the canary with them. If the canary died, that would give the miners enough time to get out before the gas knocked them out and killed them.
Now that you have watched this and seemed to enjoy it, It would be interesting to see you guys' reaction to a show like netflix's "Dark". Talk about a show with crazy revelations and plot twists 😂
