So now that all the aliens have left, is this a thinking man's sci fi or dumb memeshit like inception and interstellar?

So now that all the aliens have left, is this a thinking man's sci fi or dumb memeshit like inception and interstellar?

Definitely better than those two movies in terms of not being down right retarded with its message.

However I will say I may be blinded by rose coloured glasses (I read the short story 5 months ago and loved it) and think the movie exceeded the short story.

the latter

Also, in terms of "thinking man's sci-fi", the actual short story does do it 100x better, except the movie is simply more entertaining and beautiful to watch.

I liked this movie and wanted it to be a "thinking-man's" scifi movie, but I just don't see what themes the movie imparted that could be tangibly thought about? Like, a message about "embracing the journey" maybe, but that is so shallow and carried by the idea of [s]non-linear time perception[/s] that we just cannot even actually try to embrace the journey in the way the film's characters learn to - it is impossible.
Then, a message of working together? trite.

The most fascinating things about this movie were relating to linguistics, and I think that was probably (I am no linguist) boiled down to a very basic level for film. I really liked the movie still, but it left me with nothing to ponder or chew on like I wished it had.

I thought it was nice.. in the beginning, then it all went to shit with the sugary bullshit they feed you at the end. Not to mention the blatant way they ripped off Vonnegut's Slaughter House Five

non-linear time is not a Vonnegut concept, and the mechanics in SH5 are not even explained in the same way that this story tries to explain it. You're shit.

If you like the linguistics aspect, read the short story. That's like 85% of it. Really good stuff

It's just a nice lowkey sci-fi expounding naive messages of unification through communication. I guess Villeneuve is one of those turbo nerds who thinks Earth needs to unite in order to go interstellar (e.g. why the Heptopod says they'll need Humanity's help in 3000 years).

I am VERY fascinated by the hidden mechanics of language so, yes! I will check out the story my friend :)

Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Hong Kong
D R O P P E D
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P
P
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ONE THING I LOVED

the whole part where Ian read the preface to Louise's book and she said something like "it's how you draw people in, feed them the basics" and that was exactly what they did in the beginning with "I had no idea our relationship to memory was blah blah" and they NEVER commented on it or were like "there's the preface, audience". Might be sort of obvious, but I think a bet of people could have missed that.

That was really well put. I got a similar reading of the movie.

The Arrival explains that the aliens are able to perceive time in a non linear way because of the nature of their written language.
SH5 explains that the tralfamadorians are able to perceive time in a similar manner because of an experiment that they did long ago... Seems pretty similar.

The mechanics don't even matter... its the message they are both trying to convey that feels like a ripoff.

One is based in some concept and the other is just "uhh, reasons in the past."

and are you implying SH5 and Arrival share a common "point"? If so, what do they both convey?

He's a pleb who saw/read one decent bit of science fiction and now believes he's an expert on the subject, ignore him.

It certainly seems that way...

Both approach the idea of death in a similar way. Amy Adams' character chooses to go on with having a child that will inevitability die a premature death. She respects that, she believes the time they spend together is worth it because now she perceives her life in a non-linear way.

In SH5, Billy Pilgrim is taught that death is really non existent, the aliens in the book believe that everyone is still alive in another time. That eliminates the suffering for a loss one.

There are some differences in the mechanics, Trafalmadorians don't get to alter their future or past. But in the Arrival, the choice Adams makes does not make it clear that she can alter her future, she doesn't change anything. She goes on living and experiencing life in a non-linear way and enjoying her daughter in the times she got to be with her.

Billy is dissassociated with life, love, responsibility. Louise embraces these things because she has been EMPOWERED with the GIFT of seeing the whole thing.

Being un-stuck in time is in no way a gift for Billy. It is, essentially, a curse he submits to and lets destroy his life because he has absolutely no control over his fate and his place within time.

...

But she doesn't have a choice, does she? Unless she see multiple branching timelines like the Kwisatz Haderach, she doesn't have a choice.

Yeah that is never explained, but I don't imagine that is how it is.

Also: "so it goes" is a very fatalistic and withdrawn motif to SH5 that is not in any way shared by Arrival. This dude would have failed freshman year English with this level of analysis.

I'm not so sure I would call her empowered. They both experience fleeting love and melancholy. Billy's plight might be more palpable because we actually read the descriptions of his emotional state. But I believe Louise's glances at her daughter show just how much pain/joy she is going through while going on knowing what she knows.

Then again..maybe am reading too much into the performances.

You are misreading SH5. It is entirely cynical and non-sentimental. You've already said what Louise clearly feels in the film and you don't really need to dig at all to see she obviously is sad and happy for the time she has with her kid. They narrate this shit, it requires zero effort to see.

I think the main theme I took from it was how man seeks to find understanding in the world, and if we don't understand something, it can lead to fear and anger which can drive us apart.

y'know, when the bomb exploded and killed that one alien, i was just thinking, man imagine the fucking memes that'd come out of that.

america's the only one to get an alien kill. they'd fucking beat off to that every independence day or whatever.

Abbott is death process and all you can think about is memes? Fuck you, man.

The opening and closing music was the same piece, like a palindrome
Kino

Their daughters name was Hannah, a palindrome
Kino

shit alien design tbqh

>spent the entire movie trying to remember the artist
>was 90% sure it was Olafur Arnalds by the end
>mfw Max Richter in the credits

what would you have gone for?

its better than funny humanoid with weird face things. i liked how squid-like they were.

the language ink though, i was kinda confused about that. was it technology or biology like squid ink?

bit disappointed they felt the need to hollywood it up by throwing in nonsensical violence.

army dude with a worried wife and kid at home, tells them he'll be fine launches a suicide attack on the aliens? china retarded trying to fight them? that'd be like going up against fighter bombers, artillery, tanks and fighting vehicles with a stick. no government would be that recklessly stupid.

It's ink.

Remember how one of them kind of swims away at one point and how Louise's hair is all floaty when she goes back at the end?

Their natural habitat is pretty obviously some kind of liquid environment.

but if its biological, how do they control it into those shapes? my best guess was some kinda technoorganic alterations they did to themselves.

so theres a rather throwaway implication that i thought was kinda neat. the aliens said they'd need human help in 3000 years but knowing their language doesn't mean you get to see the future, you only get to see your future, if you die tomorrow you won't see the day after that. so that means their whole species presumably have lifespans exceeding 3 millenia, their probably immortal.

Hey, gotta show how USA is better than other countries somehow.

Fuck dem ayy lmao shit.

The question of determinism was the strong part of that movie. I thought more about knowing the death of a loved one before and still loving the every min instead of ayy lmao visiting.

>yin and yang symbols let you see the future
>aliens without eyes have entirely visual based language
>lets start a potentially world ending war with advanced aliens by jumping the gun and hoping our weapons will damage them even though they have literally not harmed a single person

So intellectual.

HK WENT APESHIT WHEN THEY SAW THIS SHOOPED POSTER

THEY HATE MAINLAND CHINA SO MUCH

YOU KNOW CHINA IS SHIT WHEN EVEN THE CHINKS HATE CHINA

I'm not sure whey they spent so much screentime on alien language.

>Their natural habitat is pretty obviously some kind of liquid environment.
Then how does she breath though

LCL

VILLENEUVE IS A WEEB

So the book version of Arrival is to linguistics what The Martian was to basic sciences?

OK, so for those who can enjoy Tarkovsky's sci-fi, this movie is somewhere between the le epic reddit science memes that were inception and interstellar and a movie like stalker or Solaris.
It is better then both and it is also better then Gravity because it doesnt just throw symbols and metaphors in your face(like the womb and embillical cord scene in gravity).
It still bogs down a bit in the silly technicalities and "world diplomacy" and does some symbolism but its a lot more tame.

It feels like the movie uses asian motifs and western sterotypes and motifs about asian philosophy and culture.
There is some "zen" and asian minimalism perhaps? Even the music seems inspired by mediation mantras.

Essentialy the movie uses the aliens as a way to present its solution to both worldly and personal problems.
By accepting the past present and future and letting go of struggle you can achieve internal(and apparently political) peace.

This is a worthy sci fi movie which an intelligent person can go and watch without feeling like a complete idiot afterwards.
Its still not as brave as Stalker or Solaris but it is meant for the general public.

Overall I was not dissapointed and was expecting exactly that coming in.

Unification was required because nuclear war is still a probability.

There's no way we'd make it another 3000 years without resorting to it if the world continues to be a playground for superpowers.

Better than interstellar

His attack didn't need to succeed. He was just forcing their hand so that the information exchange would stop and humanity would have no choice but to go to war.

Pure Kino.

It's for people who think of themselves as "thinking men"

>abbott is in death process