1) Arrival
Unfurling like a beautifully rendered map to an unexpected and exotic locale, Arrival rolls in disguised as a standard alien invasion tale, but soon sheds its skin to reveal something else entirely. That something is at once vast and intimate; impressively complex and incredibly simple – and these contrasts are housed within a narrative that is perfectly paced, and brilliantly performed.
There are some familiar motifs in the story – a token woman, a race against time, a lesson about the importance of nations working together, a slow and unspoken falling in love – but, make no mistake, Arrival is a work of extreme originality. The script takes the simplest of questions and spins out an exercise in ‘thinking outside the box’ until the consequences and ramifications of that question are, frankly, mind-bending.
Arrival is an example of what’s possible when each department – from writing, to cinematography, to production design, to sound – is working in a cohesive fashion, at the top of their game. It’s an outstanding achievement in both filmmaking and storytelling and is absolutely the best film of 2016.
