I have not seen a movie at the theatre for a while; and eventually we decided to just go and watch something that looked interesting; without necessarily knowing what it was about. Arrival was more than a pleasant surprise - no hype (as with Interstellar, The Martian or Gravity), the movie explores first contact with an alien species.
And the aliens are strange - they make indecipherable noises, their space craft and environment looks out of the world, they have technology that we cannot currently fathom, and they are not green men with big heads - but are rather like giant squids.
While the story is set around first contact - it is a lot more. It asks some deep philosophical questions - on how language and the nature of language influences thought and actions; on how mis-communication leads to bad decisions, on how humans will actually deal with the knowledge of an alien species, on how talking heads on TV can easily whip up misinformation into panic and the question for the ages: on the nature of choice and fate.
This is a stunning movie with an amazing lead performance by Amy Adams in the lead role. As far as random choices and selections go - this was hitting the jackpot!
