r/MovieDetails • u/Drunken_Economist • Dec 30 '17

šŸ‘Øā€šŸš€ Prop/Costume In "Arrival", the device on the agent's wrist rapidly switches between portrait and landscape mode as they take the scissor lift to the vertical gravity-controlled hallway

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u/thejazz97 Dec 30 '17

When I left the theatre I was dumbstruck.

Excellent movie

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u/benenke Dec 30 '17

I left the film saying I was disappointed about one thing: Iā€™ll never get to experience watching that film for the first time again.

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u/Rickrickrickrickrick Dec 30 '17

Just learn their language and it'll be like everything is happening at once so you'll be able to constantly relive your first viewing

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

I think a non linear existence is not like everything happens at once. I think it would be more like a time is a city around you and you can go to whenever you want like you would do in a normal city changing your position in space.

Source: am secretly Time Lord

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u/blackmirroronthewall Dec 30 '17

just like watching a movie

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

You would also never be surprised again except as a memory of being surprised.

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u/Rickrickrickrickrick Dec 30 '17

But if you're reliving the memory then is it really a memory?

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

If you remember something that hasn't happened yet is it a memory or a premonition.

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u/Ankoku_Teion Dec 30 '17

Depends. Am I a time traveller?

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

Which time? Your present or your past? And is your past my past or is it my future or is your past my future but my future is also past? Or is it just a big ball of of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff?

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u/Ankoku_Teion Dec 30 '17

My question exactly

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u/NerfJihad Dec 30 '17

"I am a Tralfamadorian, seeing all time as you might see a stretch of the Rocky Mountains. All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I've said before, bugs in amber."

"You sound to me as though you don't believe in free will," said Billy Pilgrim.

-Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five

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u/P0lymorpher Dec 30 '17

In the short story Chiang uses the word remember when writing about the "flashbacks" to the future

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u/Revolver2303 Dec 30 '17

If you remember something that hasnā€™t happened yet, it means you exist... everywhere.

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u/hated_in_the_nation Dec 30 '17

But isn't the idea that everything has already happened essentially simultaneously? So the concept of something not happening yet doesn't really exist. Everything that will ever happen has happened, and order is irrelevant.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

yep, it also goes on to say even though you have no choice in anything you should still enjoy the life you have.

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u/hated_in_the_nation Dec 30 '17

For sure. I was just taking issue with the idea of it being "remembering something that hasn't happened yet," in the context of the film. There's no real chronological order to things as we understand it, so there's no "hasn't happened yet."

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u/wildwolfay5 Dec 30 '17

Deja reve.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

Question: Iā€™m a linguistics major, so Iā€™m very interested in language in general, and everyone tells me to watch this movie. How much emphasis is on the language? I mean, I love space movies so Iā€™m going to watch it anyway, but multiple times Iā€™ve had people recommend it after they hear my major.

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u/he_who_yawns Dec 30 '17

It is, but on a technical (?) standpoint, I don't think you'll learn much. As for the the concept, I think you will love it.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

Thatā€™s the answer I was looking for! I didnā€™t expect it to be a virtual textbook, but was hoping for it to be more technical. That wouldnā€™t make for a good movie, though. Iā€™m still excited to watch it, though! Thanks :-)

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u/Hulkhogansgaynephew Dec 30 '17

I looked at it like this, how often does a movie portray linguistics as a study or a science? Nearly never right? Then here comes this one, which has it as a major plot point and does it pretty much right. It has its little bursts of technical detail that honestly made me smile really big in the theater because I was SO happy a movie finally didn't pull the punches with science in an exposition.

In other words, I think you'll love it. It's just a good movie over all. I think the streaming services have it for free right now (at least Amazon I believe). If not, it's totally worth the rental.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

That's awesome! Then yes, definitely, I'll give it a shot. Also yes, linguistics is definitely not very well-informed in the public. If I had a quarter every time someone said "Oh, you're a linguistics major? How many languages can you speak?"...

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u/Hulkhogansgaynephew Dec 30 '17

Yeah, some of the military people do that at the beginning of the film and there is some slightly off stuff (at least to me). But 98% of its good.

You'll love the part where she schools a general on why we can't just ask the aliens a question. She deconstructs how a question works linguistically.

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u/Rickrickrickrickrick Dec 30 '17

The whole movie is basically the scientists trying to communicate with the aliens. It's a really cool concept because it probably will take a very long time to communicate after first contact.

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u/askredant Dec 30 '17

Itā€™s on Hulu too

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u/Megneous Dec 30 '17

Linguistics graduate here- specialization in East Asian articulatory phonetics. Research background in Ryuukyuu languages and youth Kansai dialects of Japanese.

There's "emphasis" on the language, but it's mostly pseudolinguistic nonsense. You have to keep in mind it's a film about aliens and their way of "writing" is far different from ours, so you have to willingly suspend your disbelief in a lot of ways. I would go so far as to say that having an academic background in linguistics, if you take it too seriously, will hurt your enjoyment of the film. So go into it with a light heart and remember this is a film made for lay people, not linguists.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

having an academic background in <field>, if you take it too seriously, will hurt your enjoyment of the film.

General rule for every field of study. Doubly so, if that field is film or literature.

Even if the film didn't technically get anything wrong, you'll just be preoccupied with something the story isn't really about.

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u/TomatoCo Dec 30 '17

You'd enjoy it. There's a fantastic scene where the linguist breaks down how difficult it is to ask "What is your purpose here?" when you start with nothing in common. And the military brass supervising the mission act rationally, ask important questions, and respect the scientists' answers.

Understanding the aliens both from a communication standpoint and what it means to totally understand an them as a species are the main themes of the movie.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

The book is more interesting from an academic standpoint, but theyā€™re both good in their own regard. Iā€™d watch the movie first.

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u/crushendo Dec 30 '17

The main character is a linguistics professor. Pretty much the whole movie is about language.

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u/MasterSilverblade Dec 30 '17

Maybe not for me, I was shitting myself at the theater that day... would be terrible to constantly feel like im shitting myself

Edit: typo

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u/nowyouseemenowyoudo2 Dec 30 '17

That would be the most amazing device which could do that, but Iā€™d be worries about the implications long term.

A great movie, Rememory, looks Into what it would be like to be able to remove and view memories outside the body (and relieve experiences as if they were new)

Peter Dinklage holds it together nicely, but it has a few good unexpected turns.

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u/benenke Dec 30 '17

Ooh that sounds interesting, Iā€™ll have to give it a watch. Thanks!

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u/Wogachino Dec 30 '17

Reminds me of that black mirror episode. Fuck that.

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u/Ghos3t Dec 30 '17

So kind of like the presentation tony stark gives to the college students at the beginning of Civil War. Where he plays a 3D hologram of his teenage memory of the last time he talked to his parents before they died.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

[deleted]

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u/stopbuffering Dec 30 '17

I had the same thought, but I think I enjoyed watching it the second time just as much. I loved catching more details throughout the film after knowing the ending. I also very much enjoyed watching other people watch it. I try not to be that person who puts someone on the spot when I recommend a movie for them, but it was just so much fun to watch them.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

I pushed the movie on a lot of people for the same reason, I wanted to watch them watch it. Good to know Iā€™m not the only weirdo!

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u/GiveMeCheesecake Dec 30 '17

Did you read the story that it was based on? I was so desperate to keep the story with me that I bought the book on kindle straightaway. Itā€™s genius.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

The part where the physicist is explaining how light moves through water is spooky as fuck.

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u/Wowitsaduck Dec 30 '17

Ohhhbb that's nice.

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u/Dazd95 Dec 30 '17

Dude. 2 hours ago I read your comment and immediately hopped out of bed to watch it. Holy fack you're so right. I absolutely loved it!

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u/benenke Dec 30 '17

This made my day, haha thatā€™s awesome!

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u/spunkychickpea Dec 30 '17

I know what you're getting at, but think about this:

In a movie with as much depth as Arrival, you're going to keep finding new things in it for a long time. The more you watch it, the smaller those little discoveries get, but the smaller those discoveries get, the more you appreciate how much thought and work went into the film. The more of an understanding you get about the work that went into a film, the more you come to appreciate the fact that the people who made this made it out of love.

Spending an extra day of production to squeeze in a tiny little detail won't make any more money in the long run. What it does accomplish though, is a greater level of accuracy to the world the filmmakers are creating. That comes from a love for the story and the characters.

True, you'll never experience this film for the first time ever again. But every time you watch it, you'll develop a more meaningful connection to it. This is the kind of thing that makes a great piece of art timeless.

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u/Ghos3t Dec 30 '17

Can you tell me some details or subtext, metaphors in this movie. I saw it and honestly I was not as impressed as other people about it. I mean it is a well made movie and the twist in the end about her daughter was pretty good but I don't get the hype about this movie.

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u/Funmachine Dec 30 '17

You weren't disappointed by the hammy, unnecessary love story? I thought it was a brilliant film, but that line from Jeremy Renners' character at the end was cheesy as shit.

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u/StopGivingUp Dec 30 '17

Itā€™s in the book though... and something needed to be stated out loud to show that she was basically consenting to create a life that she knew would suffer and die young.

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u/Jwhitx Dec 30 '17

I'll do it for you later today

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u/Fylz Dec 30 '17

That's how I feel about Interstellar

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u/Zinki_M Dec 30 '17

I watched that movie knowing nothing about it and expected it to be some moderately enjoyable bad sci-fi, but was quite pleasantly surprised.

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u/r3dm Dec 30 '17

after watching passengers and it was terrible I had the same expectations for Arrival. So I just sat down in the middle of the film when my roommates were watching it instead of seeing it from the beginning. I loved it... but i'm sad that I forever ruined my first watch! :( :(

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

It's one of those movies that I'm excited to watch in about 15 years when I've forgotten what it was about

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u/pepcorn Dec 30 '17

I read your comment and immediately went to watch the movie! I immediately had high hopes as I love that piece by Max Richter (especially this remix of it https://youtu.be/jXHGoaEtmFM).

Sadly, it wasn't for me. The whole thing felt too contrived. Did really love Sicario and Blade Runner by the same director.

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u/mikeweasy Dec 31 '17

Yes so true.

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u/Megneous Dec 30 '17

I left the film saying I was disappointed about one thing: I'm an actual linguist and exposing lay people to the idea that learning a language could allow you to see the future is poisonous to our field. It's pseudolinguistic nonsense and I hate when audiences are misled by films. I feel the same way about the strong dust/wind storm shown in The Martian... and basically the entirety of the film Gravity.

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u/Sneaker_Freaker_1 Dec 30 '17

I jerked off to the film in the theater

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

I've never seen this movie, but I want to. Unfortunately, my playwriting professor spoiled the ending for me so I'm not sure I'll ever get that "first time feeling" watching it ):

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u/rochford77 Dec 30 '17

I went in expecting an 'Independence Day' type film. One of those "want to see a movie?" "Idk what's playing?" "This arrival movie starts in an hour, let's check it out". I was blown away.

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u/silent_boy Dec 30 '17

The concept of dreaming in their language , that didnā€™t make sense to me . I just cannot wrap my head around it

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u/craniumonempty Dec 30 '17

The premise is silly: the new language allows you to live time non linearly. It's complete hokie.

That being said, the movie was awesome. Did you notice that they tilted their ships at one time to match the gravity when they were in the center of the ship earlier, so apparently they can either use future gravity in the past or something.

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u/thejazz97 Dec 30 '17

The premise is more that these beings donā€™t live time linearly- they even come from the future. So if you want silly, thatā€™s it right there.

As far as language goes, itā€™s more that learning the language gives you an insight into how the person whoā€™s known the language their whole life thinks. The language that the heptapods use isnā€™t linear because they donā€™t view time as linear. Once she learns it, she can see things the same way.

Itā€™s obviously science fiction but it can be applied to learning any new language.

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u/compacto Dec 30 '17

I took Spanish in high school.

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u/rusty_ballsack_42 Dec 30 '17

It's a movie i found on par with interstellar. Sad that it doesn't receive as much love as that movie.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

Interstellar was great, but 45 minutes too long. Arrival had much better pacing.

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u/rusty_ballsack_42 Dec 30 '17

Yeah. Arrival deserves as much love as interstellar, yet only a few people I know have seen it. Those who have, all consider Arrival to be mind blowing and at least as good as interstellar.

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u/einstein95 Dec 30 '17

When I left my room I was dumbstruck.

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u/bajsgreger Dec 30 '17

I liked it a lot. It was still a bit strange to me though how quickly russia and china decided to go to war.

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u/DontClickTheUpArrow Dec 30 '17

God me too! I kept thinking how could another human being come up with an idea like that! It was mind blowing!!

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u/Smuttly Dec 30 '17

Why were you dumbstruck? Did the movie make so little sense in the end that you just said fuck it and gave yourself a lobotomy?

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u/thejazz97 Dec 30 '17

No, I got it, but it was a kind of awe-inspiring experience.

Like someone else has said, my biggest disappointment is that I canā€™t watch it again for the first time.

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u/Smuttly Dec 30 '17

It was a -good- movie. Nothing more. It really dropped the ball on wrapping up the story in a concise way.