I remember loving this movie when it came out. I took a woman on a date to see it in theatres. After the movie was done, the theatre applauded, myself included. My date was like: “well that was a whole lot of nothing…”. There were no further dates afterwards lol.
@@tybaltmalema3566 I felt exactly like your date lol. I was like ..... "oh... so she decided to have the kid even though she knew the kid would die. ok? "
One of the best modern sci-fi pieces and that’s her reaction? Good choice not to continue pursuing that lol… luckily I showed my current gf this film in one of our first few date nights and she absolutely loved it and cried her eyes out. Ik right away she was a keeper 😂
The meaning of a simple story can still be complex. People who lack to see that aren’t worth your time. Most of us live very boring lives but still feel like so much is going on lol. To put it in perspective.
@@kuhpunkt "战争，不成就英雄 ...只会留下 ... 孤儿寡母" is what was literally said. Nothing about winners and an inclusion of orphans. I don't know what you're sending the ?? for. Surely it's obvious for even a dipshit to understand poetic sentences that sounds smooth in one language usually sound awkward in another - so in a movie that is so obsessed with language, you know they nailed the Mandarin but the English also sounds good, therefore they probably don't mean exactly the same thing.
Great reaction. I've said this elsewhere, but this movie really affected me. My wife died of cancer, and if I had known that in advance I still wouldn't change a single minute because she was everything to me.
The fact that Louise learned their language means she can experience any moment in her daughter's life whenever she chooses to. For her, Hannah is always alive. Because Ian didn't learn the language, Hannah is dead. Such a moving, thought provoking film.
i think the one thing I always wondered is how did Ian not manage to learn the language, at least to a level of fluency close to Louise's, if not as good. that's really the only thing in this movie that I would 'nitpick' is I thought he would have been able to foresee some of those future events too, while perhaps not being as adept as Louise, but still.... nonetheless, that doesn't in any way detract from my experience of the movie, i LOVE it but I did wonder. Like is it so hard to fully learn that very few people actually develop the future-seeing ability?
@@specificsoup It could have been a conscious choice he made. Deciding not to learn the language once he found out what learning it would do. Seeing your entire life has its positives, but as well, brings negatives. Such as losing the sense of anticipation and mystery of life as it unfolds. Also unlocking and experiencing ahead of time, all the painful moments in your life to come, etc. He may have preferred a life where he would not see his entire future, and I think a lot of people would also make that same choice.
@@specificsoup Not everyone is good with languages. Some people just aren't wired that way. And this isn't a human language. You can learn how to write like a heptapod and read what it writes, but to truly understand them and see the world like they do, it takes a level of immersion that Ian simply isn't capable of.
Plus if she had actually had that conversation with him, Hannah might not exist, or could become a different kid entirely. If she changes events in the present/past it will affect future outcomes. So essentially she *can't* tell him about Hannah dying without killing her herself.
This is one of the rare movies where the plot twist adds to the rewatchability to the movie. It just hits alot harder the second time you see the movie, and you know where it's headed.
Yeah! The first time I watched it I didn’t understand the connection between Louise telling her daughter the non-zero sum game in the future and her presence in the board room/conference room in the present. Now I know that in both those separate moments in her life, she was experiencing them simultaneously.
when she has just recently had her baby, and she says "come back to me" like somebody is handing her the baby..... but you realize she's really saying it like "come back to me after I lost you" because she can go through and experience all these events in time all over again 🥺🥺🥺 and she says "come back to me" right after she dies 😭😭😭
@@WoWGirl6 I think there are more interpretations of this. It's possible that she wasn't really experiencing them simultaneously. Though her future memory of course is linked to the moment in the past / present when she actually heard the term from Ian. So in the future she essentially throught about Ian when she actually mentioned "ask your daddy" and she remembered the moment in the past. So at the moment she heard it in the present, her ability to see into the future triggered the future memory where she actually was reminded of this moment in the past. Of course none of the time paradoxes is even remotely addressed in this movie. Because if the future isn't pre-determined (which it probably is), any minor change in the present would have drastic consequences in the future (butterfly effect). The movie Butterfly Effect doesn't actually address the implications properly. It would be even more drastic than depicted in the movie. Even a single air molecule pushed in the past can in the long run have huge consequences. Like a hurricane that is forming is slightly deviated from the original path and may hit or miss a certain building in turn. This escalates into all the consequences for the people living in that building. Everything that follows would take complete different paths for so many people. Construction workers to repair the building, insurance companies, etc. Every interaction any of those people would have had would be changed and this propagates into the future. Tiny changes can result in larger ones. A person that tries to reach a bus but misses it by a few sectond vs getting there on time would in turn delay the depature of the bus. The whole traffic would work out differently. One case might result in a terrible accident (Final Destination level), the other may have no effect at all. So if you can actually see into the future, the only reasonable conclusion would be that it is pre-determined because if the knowledge about the future does affect the present, the future would be utterly changed immediately and what you just saw would not happen at all. So if it would affect the future, what you would see would be more like noise of billions of potential futures, so you can not really make any sense of it.
Another thing that will blow your minds. Is that the Heptapods see the future right? So then Abbott and Costello both understood the risks of going to earth. And Abbott knew that he would be killed for the language to be given to humanity.. which makes it even more sad! Such a great movie!
@@daphneglasurus7886 that’s a cool interpretation but I don’t think it really fits the scene. To me it mirrors Louise’s situation that has yet to happen. She has visions of the future knowing that her daughter is going to die. In this case, Abbott knew he would die going to earth to help humanity. They both knew the outcome and went on the mission anyways because they know that meeting Ian and Louise is what inevitably gives Louise the drive for her to learn their language.
@@vbvermont to be fair, i don’t believe even half of humanity would even WANT to learn it. and those that attempt it might not all learn it. regardless of the fact that not everyone is good at languages and this seems like a very complex one that not everyone could get their heads around (louise had an easier time because she’s already amazing at languages) like they said in the movie, not everyone’s brains can withstand such things like this. i wouldn’t be surprised if many people learned it and then killed themselves as they slowly start to see time this way. it’s a very heavy burden. seeing your entire life and knowing things that will happen thousands of years in the future is not something everyone will find desirable im sure. so i think someone like Ian would probably not even want this gift even if he could theoretically learn it. that’s how i think about it at least. i don’t know if id want to see time this way.
I'm a translator and an interpreter, this is one of my favorite films ever made. Language is such a wonderful thing and so many people limit themselves to one. I also believe in what Ian mentioned, how, when you truly know a language, it rewires your brain, the way you think and your personality change with it. This movie blows my mind every single time I watch it, it's so, so brilliant, and I get emotional every time. It's just so impactful.
@@Lia-uf1ir that is correct! My personality and the way I think do change between my mothertongue and English, so I've always been a firm supporter of this theory. It generally only happens when you've fully immersed yourself in the language however.
@@jimjimcherie I notcied that too since English is also not my first language. It's gotten so far that often I do know the English word I wanna use but not the German one because I started to *think* in English a while ago. I even dream in English!
@@Lia-uf1ir YES!!! It happens to me so often 🤣🤣 I think and dream in English most of the time, instead of Spanish, and I use a lot of Spanglish during my personal conversations, specially bcs I'm constantly alternating between English and Spanish bcs I'm an interpreter, and work 12 hour days sometimes, so once I'm done with work it's so hard for me to separate the languages sjsjsjs.
You might enjoy Samuel Delany's novel Babel 17 from the early 60s. It is also based on Sapir-Whorf and its implications with alien languages. It broke ground by devising a science-fiction setting where the science is linguistics and the main character, much like here, is a linguist tasked with cracking an alien code. Arrival, btw, is based on a short story by Ted Chiang, 'The story of your life'.
@@basketball_guru1904I agree. If we’re truly alone it would mean we’re an aberration. An anomaly and that life is not actually meant to be. It would have to mean that because of how incredibly, incomprehensibly vast the universe is. I find that notion to be scarier than that we’re just one of many forms of life.
The twist always makes me sob. Her figuring it out. And us figuring out that it's her future daughter she's been seeing and then her decision to still have their daughter, even knowing what was going to happen because... how would you not have your child and give up all of those memories. It's heartbreaking and beautiful
She didn't have a choice about having the daughter. Free will can't exist in this movie. She was compelled to take that path - just as Abbott was compelled to die in the explosion. The only way of having time like this is to remove free will. Else they wouldn't be able to even see the future. And it'd literally break causality.
This is by far the most intelligent reaction I have seen to this glorious, glorious film. Truly, an instant classic. This film will still be watched and appreciated in 50 years' time.
Shoutout to the OG, Abbott. It needed to keep this timeline for things to work out, so even if it knew, even before arriving, that it is going to be "death process", still stuck with it. This is the way.
This film and "Children of Men" are tied - for me - as the two best sci-fi films of this century, and in the top ten of all time. Out of those two, "Arrival" is the one that still blows me away the most; just an amazing film. Great reaction.
The alien story is interesting but I've always seen it as a vehicle to convey the true story, which is about the nature of communication, how it shapes how we think and who we are, and the idea of journey vs destination. When I first saw this, it was 2018 and I was starting a painful divorce and had two young kids. It absolutely WRECKED me. (Side note: I also make a living in communication so wow, did I connect with this movie.)
The concept of time being non-linear is fascinating and should be explored more often in Sci-Fi films. On one hand you can see into the future but the downside would mean you would be unable to shake the emotions that come with life-altering events. I would imagine Louise would constantly feel that pain of losing her daughter and that to me is the most terrifying part of it all. This movie hits every time.
"I forgot how good it felt to be held by you." Her mind was basically unshackled from time already, including emotions and perception. So that when it happened to her body, her mind was already so many years in the future when they broke up over her knowledge of the disease. Her mind is able to jump and live through all stages of her future life at any time, absolutely fascinating as well as terrifying. It's mindblowing and not how our brain works, so yeah, sci-fi at its best.
There's a movie called Flashback (2021) which deals with non-linear time. It has a pretty fascinating twist which I'd say made the movie (I rewound it several times because it was such a unique concept), but the rest of the movie veers into "YA" territory and can get a little cheesy.
It's terrifying but beautiful because even though she knows it will be painful she is still willing to go through it all over again because of how much she loves her daughter. The love for her daughter is so much stronger than the pain of losing her.
The show Fringe deals with it as well. There are “humans” called Observers who are shown to show up at important events in history. They are humans basically from the future with tech that enables them to run probabilities. The way they experience time is explained by a scientist using a glass tube with fluid. For us, the water runs through the tube one way and pours out the end. For the “observers” he covers both ends so the water is contained in the tube. That instead of going one linear way, for them it is happening all at once. Actually really cool and underrated show.
I feel like one of the series they have watched in this channel has prepared them with the concept of time being non-linear that's why they picked up on it real fast. I'll just write what it is below in case the ones reading this comment hasn't seen it and consider the info of having "time travel" in it is a spoiler in itself... It's Attack on Titan. Honestly it has one of the better presentation of the Bootstrap Paradox. It also reminded me of Dune, or maybe since because Dune has influenced almost every sci fi that came after it, Attack on Titan's author may have been influenced by it either directly or indirectly.
You guys can always go to the movies if you really want to and post your review after if you’d like! You deserve to have that experience again after so long :) also, there are often times when theatres do screenings of previously released movies, you can consider that too!
@@SeeJaneGoTV this film is very underrated in terms of how many have seen it.... Also think about this Abbot the heptapod that died in that explosion KNEW they were going to die before they even got there!!!!!! To know your death date and still to proceed for the greater good
@@JesseJ.Speigner just remember, taking actions that adversely affect yourself for the greater good is one thing, but half the atrocities in the world were commited against the few for the greater good. All we should really do is protect individual rights.
@@SeeJaneGoTV 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?🤔
I believe Louise's ability to perceive her life in a non-linear fashion allows her a significant advantage over Ian in terms of dealing with their daughter's illness and death. For Ian, perceiving time in a linear fashion, Hannah's life starts out representing everything that is beautiful and hopeful. When she gets sick, all of that beauty and hope becomes a crushing heartbreak for him. For Louise, she can actively experience the most beautiful moments of her daughter's life before, during, and after Hannah's sickness.
The music at the beginning and end of the movie is "On the Nature of Daylight" by Max Richter. It's been used in several movies, but most recently in The Last of Us in the episode with Bill and Frank. Makes me cry everytime it is used!
I adore the version used for the end credits of "Shutter Island", where it's mixed with Dinah Washington "This bitter Earth". I adore this piece of music. So moving, so simple, yet so powerful.
I remember we decided to see this last minute in a theater. What an experience. Espeically with the sound design. Hearing surround sound when they would communicate with the aliens was made your hair stand up (in a good way). You felt like you were there, learning along side the others.
One of my favourite movies. I like the premise of how learning the language allows one to perceive time in a non-linear fashion, much like us as the viewer of the movie are taught a similar lesson - we instantly expect the timeline of the movie to be linear, because that's what we're used to - that's how our minds work - but then at the end we're "rewired" to perceive what we've just experienced in a non-linear manner, just like the main character. It's so damn clever.
Its interesting, at no point did she see a possible future and not take the steps towards it. Once you see the future it seems to be inevitable, so maybe its the wrong perspective to say she 'chose' to have the kid knowing her fate. If she saw it, she was going to, becacuse its the future. Does that mean she was locked into a destiny, or was the future only pre-destined because it formed from the choices she was going to make, even though she hadnt made them yet.
25:00 when he pretended to be her with the voice I lost it. 😂 I love you guys. Also, you’re just saying “Papa Papa, Papa Pop”with your lips. 😂😂 by the way, the reason why they disappear and not just go up in space is because they are 4 Dimensional creatures. They can travel outside of the 3rd dimension of “up, down, left, right…” they just “appear and disappear” to us
Beautiful storytelling that becomes richer the longer one thinks of all the implications. Became one of my favourite instantly. (The dying words of the General's wife were "In war there are no winners, only widows.")
So many reactions to this film out there, and you both nailed the dots and connected them so quickly. The depth of the writing, the ingenious editing, the purposeful imagery and dialogue - you both absorbed it all in real-time and it was rewarding to see others “get it” as I did in the same places when I first saw it. This movie still sticks with me since I saw it in the theater 7 years ago. I was fortunate to meet the cinematographer Bradford Young last year (look him up), and tell him how much this film and its intelligence affected me.
The movie Contact (1997) fits in nicely with Interstellar and Arrival. “People assume that time is a strict progression from cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.” That's the Doctor's infamous explanation for what makes time travel possible. Every time I watch this movie I feel like my head is congested with my eyes watering and nose running and sometimes I can't breath. Think about they know the future so they already knew the bomb would be there and one of them would die.
The design of Louise's house mimics the interior of the spaceship with it's large glass panel. And near the end she is shown rapping on the glass window to get her husband's attention similar to how the aliens tried to warn them about the bomb.
AWOL means Absent With Out Leave. It's essentially when a soldier doesn't show up for service. What the men who put the explosives in the alien ship and fired on their own people did was more along the lines of disobeying orders and/or treason and/or desertion.
Love the reaction guys, knew there'd be tears by the end! I love most Sci-fi movies, but especially love Sci-fi that makes you think and keeps you guessing - intelligent Sci-fi, and it was so perfectly cast, written, scored - everything, this has to be pretty much my favorite Sci-fi film, and I must have re-watched this 2-3 times to catch everything & follow it 'properly' knowing the twist. I love that the alien design was as far removed from Human as possible & the learning process didn't feel 'dumbed down' for the audience - and then after all the sci-fi, the emotional gut punch at the end had me welling up! Thing is with Louise seeing her future, she'd already fallen in love with her daughter & experienced the loss too - she knew what was to come, & I understand that being prepared, she'd not want to miss out on the time they would have... but then understand Ians side too.. it was thought provoking is SO many ways
I also cried at this movie, for the loss of her future daughter and also the conversation with the chinese president. Both touched my heart. That ending with Max Richters on the nature of daylight is a proper tear jerker
The question you pose at the end of still going through it, or adopt, etc... I think in Louise's case, she already loves Hannah. In her mind, there is no replacing her, just as there is no replacing any lost child, and spending the little time they do have coming will be cherished.
I watched now almost every reaction video about Arrival. You were definitely the guys who understood the earliest that there is a time travel thing ongoing and you understood the most intelligent some other parts of the story, although, maybe not at the very end where you were already so toasted, that you didn't see every tiny aspect like others, but no problem, great reaction from you. All this reaction videos are a prove that intelligent people usually* have more empathy, I just noticed, the more clever the watching guys were at this movie the more they cried. *usaually, not always But also totally mind blowing for me: every youtuber who reacted to Arrival grasped quite diffent aspects of the story. Surely, because the story is so complex, but it is incredible to me, how every youtuber found out the importance of one or two moments of the story, which all the otheres not or not really saw. Very interesting too: everybody saw the time travel itself slightly different, how it would work and how the effect is on several things in the story present. And here was an incredible effect of the movie: The main topic of the story "really understanding time and all it's aspects will change your brain" this topic is "jumping out" of the movie into reality, because it really changed in every viewer suddenly the understanding of everything: as soon as every viewer understood "time is here not linear anymore" everybody suddenly understood every point he has seen up to then of the movie (and maybe some aspects of his own real life) very differently and re-arranged the whole story and the things that had happen until then, every viewer at home or in the cinema did suddenly what the story character Louise is doing, re-arranging everything in the presend and past (and future). Just amazing. (I saw the movie in cinema, the space ship was so huge and impressive.) By the way, I am from Germany, at least 4 hours ahead of you. So, hi, from the future.
Denis Villeneuve is one of the greatest directors working right now. The way he utilized montage theory to make you think you were watching flashbacks when we see the scenes with her daughter, when in reality we’re actually watching flash forwards is INSANE. I can’t think of any other movie that has done something similar. You guys posted this a while ago but a sci fi and romantic comedy-ish is Her by Spike Jonze. I’d sub to the Patreon for that reaction
I remember the first time I saw this movie and I kept thinking it was just okay. It was moving a little slower than I cared for. And then the SECOND that I realized she wasn't remembering her daughter but was instead seeing her daughter and my heart dropped into my stomach. Ever since then, I have loved this movie. It is rare for a movie to be able to give me a plot twist without me seeing it coming, so when it does happen, I almost always immediately love the movie.
so impressed that you caught the "non zero sum game" moment. i've watched so many reactions and most people don't notice what was being implied there in the first watch. i certainly didn't!
I always thought that she saw her future and no matter what, it would become true and so there wasn't like a beat where she thought whether she would have this child or not, it was obvious to her she would because she had already done the mourning too knowing everything! And it's understandable that Jeremy's character felt betrayed because he hadn't! Like your mind changes completely after knowing this language, you don't think and see like we do anymore
A Quiet Place is a GREAT movie!! You guys should definitely watch. Might be a little too scary for Jane. But JV should definitely watch if anything! 👌🏽
The thing most people didn't think of correctly was the time seeing nonlineary. She wasn't sending the information to the past. She was just remembering it from her memory. Think about it....For example, try to remember what important event has happened in you life a year ago??? You have probably very difficult time to remember it because it's in time mist. That's how brain memory works. The same thing was used in this movie. Many situations was in mist and unclear for Louise. And the same goes for the aliens even more when they live thousands of years (just one more point here - when you know their language you can see only your life time, not anything else so that's why the cooperation is so important). One interesting fact is why was Abbot so reluctant to communicate with Louise and Ian and was a bit late every time? It's baceuse he remembers that he dies in that process. There's more of it - i.e. Costello and Abbott were recalling the US comedy standshow Costello and Abbott where Abbott is always late too. So overall this movie is for me the best sci-fi journey although it's not about sci-fi at the end. It's about human's life choices and seeing our purpose in the grander scheme. Denis in his best, score is also on different level, acting is briliant. 10/10 easily. Thank you for your reaction.
The Heptapods knew from the beginning about one of them going to die, but they did it anyway. They didnt brag about it in any way to show their good will. This are all very strong signs of good intentions
The thing is, its not a choice. Louise didnt chose to have a child. She can see the future, but she cannot change it. Every decision she makes (including the phone call) were already made. Its all a beautiful plan. Abbott already knew he would die. Thats why he didnt immediately show up that time. He was collecting his thoughts so to say and was getting ready for it. Thats the thing about this movie. Its not about choices, its about acceptance and living with them.
Yes, this is the correct interpretation, at least in my view of things. Our future is not something that may happen or could happen, it’s something that will or even HAS happened. We just experience time linearly, so we think we’re making choices. But many theoretical physicists agree that time, from the beginning of the universe to its very end, is all there all at once. We just can’t see it until we move into it, one moment at a time. If this is true, Hannah was going to be born, grow up and tragically die at a young age. Seen this way, it seems a little unfair for Ian to blame Louise for this. I doubt she could have changed the future. She already saw it, so it was going to happen no matter what. This makes the ending even more sad to me.
Arrival was filmed in Québec, it's very strange to recognize the university in Montreal and the location where their spaceship is hovering, it's a couple of kilometers away from where I go to vacation every Fall with my kids near Rimouski.
A thought I just had is that “Abbott” likely knew it would die, and continued with this mission anyways. Made sure to contain the explosion to protect them, even when doing so would be Abbott’s “end”.
And to add on to your points, since the aliens already knew the future, that means they arrived there already knowing English. Or at least how to translate it. They were so patient with the humans and made sure they learned all they needed to learn. The humans weren’t teaching the aliens anything, but they were learning so much.
Rewatching this reaction because the last time I watched it, I almost burst a kidney laughing when Jane said she would play charades with the aliens to make them understand 🤣🤣🤣
Great reaction. Easily one of my top 10 movies of all time. The story, writing, and acting are top shelf. Especially the music, it's so haunting and beautiful at the same time.
Logically speaking, the world in this movie is deterministic and accordingly the future is fixed. In other words, Louise's decision was already determined.
One of my favorite movies! It's a pleasure to watch reactions of this movie with people who are intelligent and compassionate like the two of you :) Love from Sweden! ❤
She didn’t really have a choice. She saw it was so in the future. If she saw it in the future, she already made the decision. It’s like The Oracle explaining seeing the future to Neo, that he didn’t come there to make the choice, he’s already made it. Now he has to understand why he made it.
the oracle made the play for neo to think that neo needs to make the choice, the oracle played that out in machine's and humanity's favour, that's not what happened in this movie, still, she had the chance to NOT have a kid
It’s not even that she’s just seeing the future, she’s experiencing and living the future at the same time as the present. Or rather, for her there is no such thing as past, present, and future; all time is the same.
When you think about it, she couldn't tell Ian before having Hannah and letting him have his say. If she did and he said no, Hannah would never be born, so Louise wouldn't know what would happen so couldn't tell him meaning he wouldn't make that choice. Also, from Louise's point of view, it had already happened, even though it hasn't happened yet. I love the fact you began to catch on to what was happening before the film explicitly stated it. It's part of the smartness of the writing that the audience _can_ piece it together first. Denis Villeneuve has directed some visually stunning sci-fi films. Both Dune and Blade Runner 2049 were films I was excited to see off the back of this one. Being pre-existing properties with a large fanbase, there's always a worry when someone picks up a project, but Denis has shown he can do justice to such things.
I saw this 3 times during the first week in theaters. One of my absolute favourites. I also love Leon the professional, La femme Nikita (original french version) and Taxi. All movies with Luc Besson. He's a controversial character with his flings with young actresses. But his movies are great.
First time getting to see you guys! So excited to hear you're going to be reacting to 'Contact' -- one of my favorite films, hands down; subscribing to make sure I see it as soon as you guys drop it!
It was such a beautiful movie. I had to watch it three times to realized that she was seeing the future. Because I was so caught up in the flashbacks or (flash-forwards)
Everything you see in the flash backs with her daughter is actually the future non of it has happened yet. So she was single initially then knew she ended up with renner knowing full well her daughter was going to die but still chose to have her even though she knew what was going to happen. When she told renner what she knew he left because he couldn't cope with losing their daughter he felt she shouldn't of had her knowing she was going to die
The last movie I saw in theatres was Avatar. The first one. I don’t get out much. That being said, Arrival, Interstellar, and my childhood favorite, Contact, are truly some of the best sci-fi films. I’m glad you guys are sharing your reactions to these movies with us, it brings a lot of joy to experience them with others who appreciate what they’re about.💜
The director of this film, Denis Villeneuve, would go on to direct the sequel to Blade Runner (both of which would be good films to watch), as well as the new Dune films. He's such a talented director, with a deep understanding of camera, lighting, and storytelling. Contact is a great film. For other scifi films, The Martian, Looper, Ex Machina, and Moon are all great. There's a 1968 film called "2001: A Space Odyssey", but I also worry that it'd be too slow and (potentially) boring for you to enjoy. It is a VERY slow burn with lots of artistic shots and much lighter on story. Still, it is a groundbreaking movie in cinema history and is referenced constantly on other media to this day - even the first Barbie trailer parodied it!
She knows she loves her daugther with all her heart, she's living all these emotions as though they have occured, even though she hasn't been born yet, she wants to find her again... even knowing where it leads... I have a daughter, if I had to go back in time and start again with a different child, I would still miss and grieve my daughter and the times I was with her, and crave to be with her always... children imprint on you, that's why the pain of losing your child never really goes away... I understand Louise's choice and would probably choose the same.
Exactly. The reason Arrival sets itself apart from other sci-fi movies is that people don’t connect with your typical action sci-fi, they connect with movies that delve into the human psyche. Our resilience to tragedy and our insistence to carry on despite what we know lies ahead. It’s a deeper subject matter that not too many films are bold enough to tap into. It’s easier to play it safe and create a film that most will like and understand.
Most brilliant convergence of "first contact" theme and time shifting genre every done. It's also family oriented, scientifically sound, characters are realistic and not overblown, politics are realistic. They resisted a lot of super hero antics and dramatics as well. Also, I think the daughter was necessary... some of the revelations by Banks and information seemed to depend on the daughter existing in the future and that seemed necessary to decode the language.
To me this is one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made. I remember when it came out I was completely blown away and in tears like you guys. I thought about it for days. I'm still amazed by it and I'm so glad you guys watched it. Also the score is incredible and what the composer did with the sound effects was amazing.
In Mandarin Loiuse says to Shang "Jiang jun, wo zai mei guo ying di. Jian jun, ni fu ren gei wo tuo meng le. [inaudible] Ta shuo ni ying ping jie yong qi lai bang zhuo zheng jiu shi jie. Zhan zheng bu cheng jiu ying xiong. Xi hui liu xia gu er gua mu." "General, I am in the American camp. Your wife sent a message in a dream. [inaudible] She said you should be brave/corageous to help save the world. War makes not heroes but orphans and widows." sorry I didn't put the accents, that would taken forever.
I would love to see you guys watch A Quiet Place. I saw this movie several times in theaters, i loved it and still do. I would also possibly recommend War of the Worlds (2005) for a reaction
This was one of the better scifi movies of the last 20 years. "Interstellar" was another, and personally I loved the movie "Sunshine". Maybe try that for another good scifi flick.
With non-linear time, it means all time exists simultaneously. That would mean there is no 'timeline', no 'past'/'present'/'future'. If the Heptapod Language is simultaneous and works in a circle with no start or finish, one would figure the non-linear perception of time is all things existing simultaneously and that one could move to any point in one's existence to experience events in one's life. That means time is a constant and nothing actually 'ends'. That means Abbott may have entered 'death process', but he still lives. That means Hannah lives forever; Louise only has to move her consciousness to a point of her choosing to sync up with Hannah's life. If time is a constant and there is no linear time and no 'timeline', then there is no choice. Things unfurl the way they do, have always done, will always do. Because it's all fixed in time. Ian obviously never learned the Language, so he's still experiencing life with a linear perception of time. Ian lost his daughter. But Louise has a non-linear perception of time; she can spend time with her daughter whenever she wants. Ian said Louise 'made the wrong choice', but there's no choice; Hannah was always going to exist. Hannah was unstoppable. Finally, Louise doesn't see THE future, she just sees her own life experiences. She is able to live in her own 'past'/'present'/'future', but not see events before or after her life. And Louise is unable to see events she wasn't or won't be present for. But wherever her life intersects with another's life, Louise is able to share that time together. That means she can spend time with her daughter whenever she likes. The only thing is, time being a constant, there really isn't 'choice' at play when she does spend time with Hannah. Every moment is a fixed point in time. The Heptapods travel by consciousness. They 'remember'/'envision' arriving at Earth, then do the same to return. Travel is instantaneous. Travel is by perception. No engine or pollution necessary. But the thing is, they were always coming here/came here before. It's a constant in non-linear time. Considering there is no correlation between Heptapod speech and the Heptapod written language, I suspect the Heptapods may not have originated the Language. I suspect they learned it from another alien species.
One of my favorite movies of all time! One note -- you asked how the aliens would know 3000 years in the future (if they pass the knowledge down somehow). But the advantage of the heptapod universe is that time is fluid, so it is 3000 years ahead for them NOW, just like it was the formal dinner with the head of China NOW for Louise, even though it had not happened yet. The heptapods are so adept at their language they can run where Louise can barely walk -- they can go far beyond the futures humans can see -- so, they would as a species know fairly quickly, "Oops, in 3k years, we're gonna need humanity's help. Better try to go talk to those goofy kids." Etc. Thank you for the beautiful reactions -- it's such an amazing and lovely piece of sci-fi and was so moving to experience both of your reactions.
Late comment and I reckon that some others might have mentioned it, but keep in mind that Louise was aware of everything that would happen in what we with our regular minds would consider "the future". She already had all those 12 years of "memories" with her daughter, so deciding not to have Hannah would have erased her - and those precious moments that Louise was aware of - from existence. We know that Hannah was healthy for most of her life, so I can't imagine that just "deleting" her would be an easy decision. All this also assumes that "the future" can be changed. I feel that in the context of the film, everything that happened and will happen, including Abbott's death, was "supposed" to happen. Thanks for reacting to this wonderful, surprisingly emotional film!
One of my favourite movies. The short story that the screenplay was adapted from is also fantastic: "Story of Your Life," a 1998 short story by Ted Chiang
Of all the movies that I've watched people react to, this is the toughest for parents...but it resonates with them so much and I get choked up every time. Thank you for sharing your emotional response with us. (BTW, Contact is great!)
I don't watch a lot of Alien movies, but through watching these Arrival reactions it's interesting that most people assume the aliens are gonna attack back. I never really had that thought, though I was very annoyed at the human opposition (trying to rush Dr. Banks to do her job etc.)
I saw a video or maybe a magazine article.. That piinted out, we have been/are being conditioned for the last 75 years, that aliens are going to harm h Us... But why??😮
I remember loving this movie when it came out. I took a woman on a date to see it in theatres. After the movie was done, the theatre applauded, myself included. My date was like: “well that was a whole lot of nothing…”. There were no further dates afterwards lol.
Good man
@@tybaltmalema3566 I felt exactly like your date lol. I was like ..... "oh... so she decided to have the kid even though she knew the kid would die. ok? "
Great decision this film is a master piece
One of the best modern sci-fi pieces and that’s her reaction? Good choice not to continue pursuing that lol… luckily I showed my current gf this film in one of our first few date nights and she absolutely loved it and cried her eyes out. Ik right away she was a keeper 😂
The meaning of a simple story can still be complex. People who lack to see that aren’t worth your time. Most of us live very boring lives but still feel like so much is going on lol. To put it in perspective.
According to the director, the dying words of the Chinese General's wife translated to "In war, there are no winners, only widows."
According to the director? Because nobody else could translate chinese? :D
“Men die in war, women most affected”
@@kuhpunkt its what he intended. It's not what was literally said.
@@JohnYoo39 ???
@@kuhpunkt "战争，不成就英雄 ...只会留下 ... 孤儿寡母" is what was literally said. Nothing about winners and an inclusion of orphans. I don't know what you're sending the ?? for.
Surely it's obvious for even a dipshit to understand poetic sentences that sounds smooth in one language usually sound awkward in another - so in a movie that is so obsessed with language, you know they nailed the Mandarin but the English also sounds good, therefore they probably don't mean exactly the same thing.
Great reaction. I've said this elsewhere, but this movie really affected me. My wife died of cancer, and if I had known that in advance I still wouldn't change a single minute because she was everything to me.
What a lovely comment.
That's beautiful, and a testament to the love you shared.
The fact that Louise learned their language means she can experience any moment in her daughter's life whenever she chooses to. For her, Hannah is always alive. Because Ian didn't learn the language, Hannah is dead. Such a moving, thought provoking film.
i think the one thing I always wondered is how did Ian not manage to learn the language, at least to a level of fluency close to Louise's, if not as good. that's really the only thing in this movie that I would 'nitpick' is I thought he would have been able to foresee some of those future events too, while perhaps not being as adept as Louise, but still.... nonetheless, that doesn't in any way detract from my experience of the movie, i LOVE it but I did wonder. Like is it so hard to fully learn that very few people actually develop the future-seeing ability?
@@specificsoup It could have been a conscious choice he made. Deciding not to learn the language once he found out what learning it would do. Seeing your entire life has its positives, but as well, brings negatives. Such as losing the sense of anticipation and mystery of life as it unfolds. Also unlocking and experiencing ahead of time, all the painful moments in your life to come, etc. He may have preferred a life where he would not see his entire future, and I think a lot of people would also make that same choice.
@@specificsoup Not everyone is good with languages. Some people just aren't wired that way. And this isn't a human language. You can learn how to write like a heptapod and read what it writes, but to truly understand them and see the world like they do, it takes a level of immersion that Ian simply isn't capable of.
Plus if she had actually had that conversation with him, Hannah might not exist, or could become a different kid entirely. If she changes events in the present/past it will affect future outcomes. So essentially she *can't* tell him about Hannah dying without killing her herself.
This is one of the rare movies where the plot twist adds to the rewatchability to the movie. It just hits alot harder the second time you see the movie, and you know where it's headed.
Yeah! The first time I watched it I didn’t understand the connection between Louise telling her daughter the non-zero sum game in the future and her presence in the board room/conference room in the present. Now I know that in both those separate moments in her life, she was experiencing them simultaneously.
Most movies with good plot twist do that.
when she has just recently had her baby, and she says "come back to me" like somebody is handing her the baby..... but you realize she's really saying it like "come back to me after I lost you" because she can go through and experience all these events in time all over again 🥺🥺🥺 and she says "come back to me" right after she dies 😭😭😭
@@WoWGirl6 I think there are more interpretations of this. It's possible that she wasn't really experiencing them simultaneously. Though her future memory of course is linked to the moment in the past / present when she actually heard the term from Ian. So in the future she essentially throught about Ian when she actually mentioned "ask your daddy" and she remembered the moment in the past. So at the moment she heard it in the present, her ability to see into the future triggered the future memory where she actually was reminded of this moment in the past.
Of course none of the time paradoxes is even remotely addressed in this movie. Because if the future isn't pre-determined (which it probably is), any minor change in the present would have drastic consequences in the future (butterfly effect). The movie Butterfly Effect doesn't actually address the implications properly. It would be even more drastic than depicted in the movie. Even a single air molecule pushed in the past can in the long run have huge consequences. Like a hurricane that is forming is slightly deviated from the original path and may hit or miss a certain building in turn. This escalates into all the consequences for the people living in that building. Everything that follows would take complete different paths for so many people. Construction workers to repair the building, insurance companies, etc. Every interaction any of those people would have had would be changed and this propagates into the future. Tiny changes can result in larger ones. A person that tries to reach a bus but misses it by a few sectond vs getting there on time would in turn delay the depature of the bus. The whole traffic would work out differently. One case might result in a terrible accident (Final Destination level), the other may have no effect at all.
So if you can actually see into the future, the only reasonable conclusion would be that it is pre-determined because if the knowledge about the future does affect the present, the future would be utterly changed immediately and what you just saw would not happen at all. So if it would affect the future, what you would see would be more like noise of billions of potential futures, so you can not really make any sense of it.
@@remliqa Yesss like Shutter Island
Another thing that will blow your minds. Is that the Heptapods see the future right? So then Abbott and Costello both understood the risks of going to earth. And Abbott knew that he would be killed for the language to be given to humanity.. which makes it even more sad!
Such a great movie!
Wow... You're right... Mind Blown!
I actually interpreted “The death process” To mean he was dying of old age.
@@daphneglasurus7886 that’s a cool interpretation but I don’t think it really fits the scene. To me it mirrors Louise’s situation that has yet to happen. She has visions of the future knowing that her daughter is going to die. In this case, Abbott knew he would die going to earth to help humanity. They both knew the outcome and went on the mission anyways because they know that meeting Ian and Louise is what inevitably gives Louise the drive for her to learn their language.
How long will it take humanity to learn the language? Because everyone will soon be able to see their future, including the dad.
@@vbvermont to be fair, i don’t believe even half of humanity would even WANT to learn it. and those that attempt it might not all learn it. regardless of the fact that not everyone is good at languages and this seems like a very complex one that not everyone could get their heads around (louise had an easier time because she’s already amazing at languages) like they said in the movie, not everyone’s brains can withstand such things like this. i wouldn’t be surprised if many people learned it and then killed themselves as they slowly start to see time this way. it’s a very heavy burden. seeing your entire life and knowing things that will happen thousands of years in the future is not something everyone will find desirable im sure. so i think someone like Ian would probably not even want this gift even if he could theoretically learn it. that’s how i think about it at least. i don’t know if id want to see time this way.
I'm a translator and an interpreter, this is one of my favorite films ever made. Language is such a wonderful thing and so many people limit themselves to one. I also believe in what Ian mentioned, how, when you truly know a language, it rewires your brain, the way you think and your personality change with it.
This movie blows my mind every single time I watch it, it's so, so brilliant, and I get emotional every time. It's just so impactful.
I think it's called the Sapir-Whorf theory, right?
@@Lia-uf1ir that is correct! My personality and the way I think do change between my mothertongue and English, so I've always been a firm supporter of this theory. It generally only happens when you've fully immersed yourself in the language however.
@@jimjimcherie I notcied that too since English is also not my first language. It's gotten so far that often I do know the English word I wanna use but not the German one because I started to *think* in English a while ago. I even dream in English!
@@Lia-uf1ir YES!!! It happens to me so often 🤣🤣 I think and dream in English most of the time, instead of Spanish, and I use a lot of Spanglish during my personal conversations, specially bcs I'm constantly alternating between English and Spanish bcs I'm an interpreter, and work 12 hour days sometimes, so once I'm done with work it's so hard for me to separate the languages sjsjsjs.
You might enjoy Samuel Delany's novel Babel 17 from the early 60s. It is also based on Sapir-Whorf and its implications with alien languages. It broke ground by devising a science-fiction setting where the science is linguistics and the main character, much like here, is a linguist tasked with cracking an alien code.
Arrival, btw, is based on a short story by Ted Chiang, 'The story of your life'.
“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”
― Arthur C. Clarke
Both equally terrifying as amazing as well, I find. Or maybe not. We all know there's only two outcomes. First peaceful contact or the opposite.
Tbh it’d be scarier if we are all alone imo
@@Sevensilversuns I said it’s scarier if we’re alone in the universe
@@basketball_guru1904 I am sorry, consider this a misunderstanding, take care
@@basketball_guru1904I agree. If we’re truly alone it would mean we’re an aberration. An anomaly and that life is not actually meant to be. It would have to mean that because of how incredibly, incomprehensibly vast the universe is. I find that notion to be scarier than that we’re just one of many forms of life.
The twist always makes me sob. Her figuring it out. And us figuring out that it's her future daughter she's been seeing and then her decision to still have their daughter, even knowing what was going to happen because... how would you not have your child and give up all of those memories. It's heartbreaking and beautiful
She didn't have a choice about having the daughter. Free will can't exist in this movie. She was compelled to take that path - just as Abbott was compelled to die in the explosion.
The only way of having time like this is to remove free will. Else they wouldn't be able to even see the future. And it'd literally break causality.
This is by far the most intelligent reaction I have seen to this glorious, glorious film. Truly, an instant classic. This film will still be watched and appreciated in 50 years' time.
It's one of my favourite films, and I couldnt agree more that their reaction is by far the best. They earned themselves a new subscriber.
Shoutout to the OG, Abbott. It needed to keep this timeline for things to work out, so even if it knew, even before arriving, that it is going to be "death process", still stuck with it. This is the way.
I love that you understood, the understanding of their language helps you perceive time on a non-linear timeline, so early on. Kudos.
This film and "Children of Men" are tied - for me - as the two best sci-fi films of this century, and in the top ten of all time. Out of those two, "Arrival" is the one that still blows me away the most; just an amazing film. Great reaction.
Those are both fantastic picks.
Ya you guys need to do "Children of Men"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The alien story is interesting but I've always seen it as a vehicle to convey the true story, which is about the nature of communication, how it shapes how we think and who we are, and the idea of journey vs destination. When I first saw this, it was 2018 and I was starting a painful divorce and had two young kids. It absolutely WRECKED me. (Side note: I also make a living in communication so wow, did I connect with this movie.)
The concept of time being non-linear is fascinating and should be explored more often in Sci-Fi films. On one hand you can see into the future but the downside would mean you would be unable to shake the emotions that come with life-altering events. I would imagine Louise would constantly feel that pain of losing her daughter and that to me is the most terrifying part of it all. This movie hits every time.
"I forgot how good it felt to be held by you." Her mind was basically unshackled from time already, including emotions and perception. So that when it happened to her body, her mind was already so many years in the future when they broke up over her knowledge of the disease. Her mind is able to jump and live through all stages of her future life at any time, absolutely fascinating as well as terrifying.
It's mindblowing and not how our brain works, so yeah, sci-fi at its best.
There's a movie called Flashback (2021) which deals with non-linear time. It has a pretty fascinating twist which I'd say made the movie (I rewound it several times because it was such a unique concept), but the rest of the movie veers into "YA" territory and can get a little cheesy.
It's terrifying but beautiful because even though she knows it will be painful she is still willing to go through it all over again because of how much she loves her daughter. The love for her daughter is so much stronger than the pain of losing her.
The show Fringe deals with it as well. There are “humans” called Observers who are shown to show up at important events in history. They are humans basically from the future with tech that enables them to run probabilities.
The way they experience time is explained by a scientist using a glass tube with fluid. For us, the water runs through the tube one way and pours out the end. For the “observers” he covers both ends so the water is contained in the tube. That instead of going one linear way, for them it is happening all at once.
Actually really cool and underrated show.
I feel like one of the series they have watched in this channel has prepared them with the concept of time being non-linear that's why they picked up on it real fast. I'll just write what it is below in case the ones reading this comment hasn't seen it and consider the info of having "time travel" in it is a spoiler in itself...
It's Attack on Titan. Honestly it has one of the better presentation of the Bootstrap Paradox. It also reminded me of Dune, or maybe since because Dune has influenced almost every sci fi that came after it, Attack on Titan's author may have been influenced by it either directly or indirectly.
You guys can always go to the movies if you really want to and post your review after if you’d like! You deserve to have that experience again after so long :) also, there are often times when theatres do screenings of previously released movies, you can consider that too!
That's a good idea!
@@SeeJaneGoTV this film is very underrated in terms of how many have seen it.... Also think about this Abbot the heptapod that died in that explosion KNEW they were going to die before they even got there!!!!!! To know your death date and still to proceed for the greater good
@@JesseJ.Speigner just remember, taking actions that adversely affect yourself for the greater good is one thing, but half the atrocities in the world were commited against the few for the greater good. All we should really do is protect individual rights.
@@SeeJaneGoTV 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?🤔
@@JesseJ.Speigner He didn't have a choice. He experiences his life all at once. It had already happened/was happening/will happen for him.
I believe Louise's ability to perceive her life in a non-linear fashion allows her a significant advantage over Ian in terms of dealing with their daughter's illness and death. For Ian, perceiving time in a linear fashion, Hannah's life starts out representing everything that is beautiful and hopeful. When she gets sick, all of that beauty and hope becomes a crushing heartbreak for him. For Louise, she can actively experience the most beautiful moments of her daughter's life before, during, and after Hannah's sickness.
The music at the beginning and end of the movie is "On the Nature of Daylight" by Max Richter. It's been used in several movies, but most recently in The Last of Us in the episode with Bill and Frank. Makes me cry everytime it is used!
as beautiful as it gets. ive never felt a stronger connection to diegetic musix
I adore the version used for the end credits of "Shutter Island", where it's mixed with Dinah Washington "This bitter Earth".
I adore this piece of music. So moving, so simple, yet so powerful.
My favourite piece of classical music due to its impact on my heart.
I remember we decided to see this last minute in a theater. What an experience. Espeically with the sound design. Hearing surround sound when they would communicate with the aliens was made your hair stand up (in a good way). You felt like you were there, learning along side the others.
dragged my friend to see it. Now she loves it too!
It's remarkable how this got from "quite interesting"" to "highly emotional" in a couple of minutes
A cool thing I noticed was that Abbot was also late, and most likely it was because he knew he was going to die and was dreading showing up every time
One of my favourite movies. I like the premise of how learning the language allows one to perceive time in a non-linear fashion, much like us as the viewer of the movie are taught a similar lesson - we instantly expect the timeline of the movie to be linear, because that's what we're used to - that's how our minds work - but then at the end we're "rewired" to perceive what we've just experienced in a non-linear manner, just like the main character. It's so damn clever.
This film is really a masterpiece. With this, Villeneuve sold a ticket to every other work he produces.
I automatically watch all Villeneuve movies after seeing this one. He has not disappointed yet.
Blade runner, Joker, Dune, now I m Hella excited for these sequels
@@IamNinjaOfNinjaIncendes is his best movie
@@MTart96 all of his movies are goated !
After this, I knew Dune was in Good Hands. This movie though... it holds a special place in my heart. Thank you, Villeneuve.
Its interesting, at no point did she see a possible future and not take the steps towards it. Once you see the future it seems to be inevitable, so maybe its the wrong perspective to say she 'chose' to have the kid knowing her fate. If she saw it, she was going to, becacuse its the future. Does that mean she was locked into a destiny, or was the future only pre-destined because it formed from the choices she was going to make, even though she hadnt made them yet.
25:00 when he pretended to be her with the voice I lost it. 😂 I love you guys. Also, you’re just saying “Papa Papa, Papa Pop”with your lips. 😂😂 by the way, the reason why they disappear and not just go up in space is because they are 4 Dimensional creatures. They can travel outside of the 3rd dimension of “up, down, left, right…” they just “appear and disappear” to us
Beautiful storytelling that becomes richer the longer one thinks of all the implications. Became one of my favourite instantly. (The dying words of the General's wife were "In war there are no winners, only widows.")
So many reactions to this film out there, and you both nailed the dots and connected them so quickly. The depth of the writing, the ingenious editing, the purposeful imagery and dialogue - you both absorbed it all in real-time and it was rewarding to see others “get it” as I did in the same places when I first saw it. This movie still sticks with me since I saw it in the theater 7 years ago. I was fortunate to meet the cinematographer Bradford Young last year (look him up), and tell him how much this film and its intelligence affected me.
The movie Contact (1997) fits in nicely with Interstellar and Arrival.
“People assume that time is a strict progression from cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.” That's the Doctor's infamous explanation for what makes time travel possible.
Every time I watch this movie I feel like my head is congested with my eyes watering and nose running and sometimes I can't breath.
Think about they know the future so they already knew the bomb would be there and one of them would die.
The design of Louise's house mimics the interior of the spaceship with it's large glass panel. And near the end she is shown rapping on the glass window
to get her husband's attention similar to how the aliens tried to warn them about the bomb.
Great catch
AWOL means Absent With Out Leave. It's essentially when a soldier doesn't show up for service. What the men who put the explosives in the alien ship and fired on their own people did was more along the lines of disobeying orders and/or treason and/or desertion.
The two of you notice things I hadn’t. You make this new for me. And your interaction with each other adds another dimension. Thank you for this.
Love the reaction guys, knew there'd be tears by the end!
I love most Sci-fi movies, but especially love Sci-fi that makes you think and keeps you guessing - intelligent Sci-fi, and it was so perfectly cast, written, scored - everything, this has to be pretty much my favorite Sci-fi film, and I must have re-watched this 2-3 times to catch everything & follow it 'properly' knowing the twist.
I love that the alien design was as far removed from Human as possible & the learning process didn't feel 'dumbed down' for the audience - and then after all the sci-fi, the emotional gut punch at the end had me welling up! Thing is with Louise seeing her future, she'd already fallen in love with her daughter & experienced the loss too - she knew what was to come, & I understand that being prepared, she'd not want to miss out on the time they would have... but then understand Ians side too.. it was thought provoking is SO many ways
I also cried at this movie, for the loss of her future daughter and also the conversation with the chinese president. Both touched my heart. That ending with Max Richters on the nature of daylight is a proper tear jerker
14:44 considering the number of planets we’ve discovered just this last year, it’s inevitable that that there is some kind of life out there.
The question you pose at the end of still going through it, or adopt, etc... I think in Louise's case, she already loves Hannah. In her mind, there is no replacing her, just as there is no replacing any lost child, and spending the little time they do have coming will be cherished.
By the way, I've seen lots of reactors who never even understand the twist. Not sure I've seen any get the twist before it happens. I'm impressed!
I watched now almost every reaction video about Arrival.
You were definitely the guys who understood the earliest that there is a time travel thing ongoing and you understood the most intelligent some other parts of the story, although, maybe not at the very end where you were already so toasted, that you didn't see every tiny aspect like others, but no problem, great reaction from you.
All this reaction videos are a prove that intelligent people usually* have more empathy, I just noticed, the more clever the watching guys were at this movie the more they cried. *usaually, not always
But also totally mind blowing for me:
every youtuber who reacted to Arrival grasped quite diffent aspects of the story. Surely, because the story is so complex, but it is incredible to me, how every youtuber found out the importance of one or two moments of the story, which all the otheres not or not really saw.
Very interesting too: everybody saw the time travel itself slightly different, how it would work and how the effect is on several things in the story present.
And here was an incredible effect of the movie:
The main topic of the story "really understanding time and all it's aspects will change your brain" this topic is "jumping out" of the movie into reality, because it really changed in every viewer suddenly the understanding of everything: as soon as every viewer understood "time is here not linear anymore" everybody suddenly understood every point he has seen up to then of the movie (and maybe some aspects of his own real life) very differently and re-arranged the whole story and the things that had happen until then, every viewer at home or in the cinema did suddenly what the story character Louise is doing, re-arranging everything in the presend and past (and future).
Just amazing.
(I saw the movie in cinema, the space ship was so huge and impressive.)
By the way, I am from Germany, at least 4 hours ahead of you. So, hi, from the future.
Denis Villeneuve is one of the greatest directors working right now. The way he utilized montage theory to make you think you were watching flashbacks when we see the scenes with her daughter, when in reality we’re actually watching flash forwards is INSANE. I can’t think of any other movie that has done something similar. You guys posted this a while ago but a sci fi and romantic comedy-ish is Her by Spike Jonze. I’d sub to the Patreon for that reaction
Loved your reaction 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.”
I remember the first time I saw this movie and I kept thinking it was just okay. It was moving a little slower than I cared for. And then the SECOND that I realized she wasn't remembering her daughter but was instead seeing her daughter and my heart dropped into my stomach. Ever since then, I have loved this movie. It is rare for a movie to be able to give me a plot twist without me seeing it coming, so when it does happen, I almost always immediately love the movie.
so impressed that you caught the "non zero sum game" moment. i've watched so many reactions and most people don't notice what was being implied there in the first watch. i certainly didn't!
I always thought that she saw her future and no matter what, it would become true and so there wasn't like a beat where she thought whether she would have this child or not, it was obvious to her she would because she had already done the mourning too knowing everything! And it's understandable that Jeremy's character felt betrayed because he hadn't! Like your mind changes completely after knowing this language, you don't think and see like we do anymore
A Quiet Place is a GREAT movie!! You guys should definitely watch. Might be a little too scary for Jane. But JV should definitely watch if anything! 👌🏽
The thing most people didn't think of correctly was the time seeing nonlineary. She wasn't sending the information to the past. She was just remembering it from her memory. Think about it....For example, try to remember what important event has happened in you life a year ago??? You have probably very difficult time to remember it because it's in time mist. That's how brain memory works. The same thing was used in this movie. Many situations was in mist and unclear for Louise. And the same goes for the aliens even more when they live thousands of years (just one more point here - when you know their language you can see only your life time, not anything else so that's why the cooperation is so important).
One interesting fact is why was Abbot so reluctant to communicate with Louise and Ian and was a bit late every time? It's baceuse he remembers that he dies in that process. There's more of it - i.e. Costello and Abbott were recalling the US comedy standshow Costello and Abbott where Abbott is always late too.
So overall this movie is for me the best sci-fi journey although it's not about sci-fi at the end. It's about human's life choices and seeing our purpose in the grander scheme. Denis in his best, score is also on different level, acting is briliant. 10/10 easily. Thank you for your reaction.
The Heptapods knew from the beginning about one of them going to die, but they did it anyway.
They didnt brag about it in any way to show their good will. This are all very strong signs of good intentions
The thing is, its not a choice. Louise didnt chose to have a child. She can see the future, but she cannot change it.
Every decision she makes (including the phone call) were already made. Its all a beautiful plan. Abbott already knew he would die. Thats why he didnt immediately show up that time. He was collecting his thoughts so to say and was getting ready for it.
Thats the thing about this movie. Its not about choices, its about acceptance and living with them.
Yes, this is the correct interpretation, at least in my view of things. Our future is not something that may happen or could happen, it’s something that will or even HAS happened. We just experience time linearly, so we think we’re making choices. But many theoretical physicists agree that time, from the beginning of the universe to its very end, is all there all at once. We just can’t see it until we move into it, one moment at a time.
If this is true, Hannah was going to be born, grow up and tragically die at a young age. Seen this way, it seems a little unfair for Ian to blame Louise for this. I doubt she could have changed the future. She already saw it, so it was going to happen no matter what. This makes the ending even more sad to me.
Arrival was filmed in Québec, it's very strange to recognize the university in Montreal and the location where their spaceship is hovering, it's a couple of kilometers away from where I go to vacation every Fall with my kids near Rimouski.
Such a great reaction to this movie. Thanks for making this video.
Oh i already know you’re both gonna be shedding some tears. 😂 This is a good one.
A thought I just had is that “Abbott” likely knew it would die, and continued with this mission anyways. Made sure to contain the explosion to protect them, even when doing so would be Abbott’s “end”.
And to add on to your points, since the aliens already knew the future, that means they arrived there already knowing English. Or at least how to translate it. They were so patient with the humans and made sure they learned all they needed to learn. The humans weren’t teaching the aliens anything, but they were learning so much.
Rewatching this reaction because the last time I watched it, I almost burst a kidney laughing when Jane said she would play charades with the aliens to make them understand 🤣🤣🤣
Great reaction. Easily one of my top 10 movies of all time. The story, writing, and acting are top shelf. Especially the music, it's so haunting and beautiful at the same time.
Logically speaking, the world in this movie is deterministic and accordingly the future is fixed. In other words, Louise's decision was already determined.
Glad to know I am part of the 19.5% who have been subbed for a long time now!
Love to support!
You're the best!
One of my favorite movies! It's a pleasure to watch reactions of this movie with people who are intelligent and compassionate like the two of you :) Love from Sweden! ❤
This should be the 'are you a robot?" test. If you're not profoundly moved by this, you are a robot.
When the writer feels like writing a timeless movie and takes it too literal.
Amazing masterpiece.
She didn’t really have a choice. She saw it was so in the future. If she saw it in the future, she already made the decision. It’s like The Oracle explaining seeing the future to Neo, that he didn’t come there to make the choice, he’s already made it. Now he has to understand why he made it.
the oracle made the play for neo to think that neo needs to make the choice, the oracle played that out in machine's and humanity's favour, that's not what happened in this movie, still, she had the chance to NOT have a kid
It’s not even that she’s just seeing the future, she’s experiencing and living the future at the same time as the present. Or rather, for her there is no such thing as past, present, and future; all time is the same.
When you think about it, she couldn't tell Ian before having Hannah and letting him have his say. If she did and he said no, Hannah would never be born, so Louise wouldn't know what would happen so couldn't tell him meaning he wouldn't make that choice. Also, from Louise's point of view, it had already happened, even though it hasn't happened yet.
I love the fact you began to catch on to what was happening before the film explicitly stated it. It's part of the smartness of the writing that the audience _can_ piece it together first.
Denis Villeneuve has directed some visually stunning sci-fi films. Both Dune and Blade Runner 2049 were films I was excited to see off the back of this one. Being pre-existing properties with a large fanbase, there's always a worry when someone picks up a project, but Denis has shown he can do justice to such things.
“Let’s do it Hawkeye. You fought aliens before.” 🤣
"Math is the only universal language" A total quote from Contact! A must-watch if you haven't already
I saw this 3 times during the first week in theaters. One of my absolute favourites. I also love Leon the professional, La femme Nikita (original french version) and Taxi. All movies with Luc Besson. He's a controversial character with his flings with young actresses. But his movies are great.
I've never seen any reactor figure this much out before it was explained. Well done!
I was fortunate enough to watch this on a huge theater screen and it was mind blowing. Still in my top 3 sci-fi movies all time.
I see you guys are doing a spaceflight movie binge. Highly recommend checking out Sunshine by Danny Boyle.
What gets me about the heptapods is that Abbott could see his death in the future, and he didn't hesitate to save Louise and Ian
#Facts
Our language is 3 dimensions. their language is 4 dimensions. And Time is the fourth dimension of the universe.
This won the Oscar for Best Achievement in Sound Editing. It was nominated for Best Picture and Best Achievement in Directing.
Fantastic movie. One of the top 10 sci-fi movies honestly. The end always gets me especially as a parent.
First time getting to see you guys! So excited to hear you're going to be reacting to 'Contact' -- one of my favorite films, hands down; subscribing to make sure I see it as soon as you guys drop it!
Even if she doesn't tell him, once it happens, he'll realize that she knew all along and kept it from him.
It was such a beautiful movie. I had to watch it three times to realized that she was seeing the future. Because I was so caught up in the flashbacks or (flash-forwards)
Everything you see in the flash backs with her daughter is actually the future non of it has happened yet. So she was single initially then knew she ended up with renner knowing full well her daughter was going to die but still chose to have her even though she knew what was going to happen. When she told renner what she knew he left because he couldn't cope with losing their daughter he felt she shouldn't of had her knowing she was going to die
Definitely watch "contact" such a great movie for its time
I love all these sci-fi movies you're doing! Keep it up.
Thanks, will do!
The last movie I saw in theatres was Avatar. The first one. I don’t get out much. That being said, Arrival, Interstellar, and my childhood favorite, Contact, are truly some of the best sci-fi films. I’m glad you guys are sharing your reactions to these movies with us, it brings a lot of joy to experience them with others who appreciate what they’re about.💜
I'm a simple man, i see people cry to the end and i click LIKE
The director of this film, Denis Villeneuve, would go on to direct the sequel to Blade Runner (both of which would be good films to watch), as well as the new Dune films.
He's such a talented director, with a deep understanding of camera, lighting, and storytelling.
Contact is a great film. For other scifi films, The Martian, Looper, Ex Machina, and Moon are all great.
There's a 1968 film called "2001: A Space Odyssey", but I also worry that it'd be too slow and (potentially) boring for you to enjoy. It is a VERY slow burn with lots of artistic shots and much lighter on story. Still, it is a groundbreaking movie in cinema history and is referenced constantly on other media to this day - even the first Barbie trailer parodied it!
She knows she loves her daugther with all her heart, she's living all these emotions as though they have occured, even though she hasn't been born yet, she wants to find her again... even knowing where it leads... I have a daughter, if I had to go back in time and start again with a different child, I would still miss and grieve my daughter and the times I was with her, and crave to be with her always... children imprint on you, that's why the pain of losing your child never really goes away... I understand Louise's choice and would probably choose the same.
Great reaction! I figured you two would love this one, it's such a powerful film. Sci-fi, but truly about the core of humanity.
Exactly. The reason Arrival sets itself apart from other sci-fi movies is that people don’t connect with your typical action sci-fi, they connect with movies that delve into the human psyche. Our resilience to tragedy and our insistence to carry on despite what we know lies ahead. It’s a deeper subject matter that not too many films are bold enough to tap into. It’s easier to play it safe and create a film that most will like and understand.
Most brilliant convergence of "first contact" theme and time shifting genre every done. It's also family oriented, scientifically sound, characters are realistic and not overblown, politics are realistic. They resisted a lot of super hero antics and dramatics as well. Also, I think the daughter was necessary... some of the revelations by Banks and information seemed to depend on the daughter existing in the future and that seemed necessary to decode the language.
Denis Villeneuve is a very special talent for a reason!
To me this is one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made. I remember when it came out I was completely blown away and in tears like you guys. I thought about it for days. I'm still amazed by it and I'm so glad you guys watched it.
Also the score is incredible and what the composer did with the sound effects was amazing.
You kinda nailed it with "thinking in their language". For most of my life I couldn't fathom that there are people who don't think in English.
In Mandarin Loiuse says to Shang "Jiang jun, wo zai mei guo ying di. Jian jun, ni fu ren gei wo tuo meng le. [inaudible] Ta shuo ni ying ping jie yong qi lai bang zhuo zheng jiu shi jie. Zhan zheng bu cheng jiu ying xiong. Xi hui liu xia gu er gua mu."
"General, I am in the American camp. Your wife sent a message in a dream. [inaudible] She said you should be brave/corageous to help save the world. War makes not heroes but orphans and widows." sorry I didn't put the accents, that would taken forever.
Wow!!🎉 Tsieh Tsieh. Thank you so much.😊
I would love to see you guys watch A Quiet Place. I saw this movie several times in theaters, i loved it and still do. I would also possibly recommend War of the Worlds (2005) for a reaction
This was one of the better scifi movies of the last 20 years. "Interstellar" was another, and personally I loved the movie "Sunshine". Maybe try that for another good scifi flick.
SO glad you guys did Arrival! There are YT videos about the writing and directing. Way more interesting than I expected.
With non-linear time, it means all time exists simultaneously.
That would mean there is no 'timeline', no 'past'/'present'/'future'.
If the Heptapod Language is simultaneous and works in a circle with no start or finish, one would figure the non-linear perception of time is all things existing simultaneously and that one could move to any point in one's existence to experience events in one's life.
That means time is a constant and nothing actually 'ends'.
That means Abbott may have entered 'death process', but he still lives.
That means Hannah lives forever; Louise only has to move her consciousness to a point of her choosing to sync up with Hannah's life.
If time is a constant and there is no linear time and no 'timeline', then there is no choice. Things unfurl the way they do, have always done, will always do. Because it's all fixed in time.
Ian obviously never learned the Language, so he's still experiencing life with a linear perception of time. Ian lost his daughter. But Louise has a non-linear perception of time; she can spend time with her daughter whenever she wants.
Ian said Louise 'made the wrong choice', but there's no choice; Hannah was always going to exist. Hannah was unstoppable.
Finally, Louise doesn't see THE future, she just sees her own life experiences. She is able to live in her own 'past'/'present'/'future', but not see events before or after her life. And Louise is unable to see events she wasn't or won't be present for. But wherever her life intersects with another's life, Louise is able to share that time together. That means she can spend time with her daughter whenever she likes. The only thing is, time being a constant, there really isn't 'choice' at play when she does spend time with Hannah. Every moment is a fixed point in time.
The Heptapods travel by consciousness. They 'remember'/'envision' arriving at Earth, then do the same to return. Travel is instantaneous. Travel is by perception. No engine or pollution necessary. But the thing is, they were always coming here/came here before. It's a constant in non-linear time.
Considering there is no correlation between Heptapod speech and the Heptapod written language, I suspect the Heptapods may not have originated the Language. I suspect they learned it from another alien species.
I love watching your reactions. They are mature and reason based. So glad to meet you guys.
One of my favorite movies of all time! One note -- you asked how the aliens would know 3000 years in the future (if they pass the knowledge down somehow). But the advantage of the heptapod universe is that time is fluid, so it is 3000 years ahead for them NOW, just like it was the formal dinner with the head of China NOW for Louise, even though it had not happened yet.
The heptapods are so adept at their language they can run where Louise can barely walk -- they can go far beyond the futures humans can see -- so, they would as a species know fairly quickly, "Oops, in 3k years, we're gonna need humanity's help. Better try to go talk to those goofy kids." Etc.
Thank you for the beautiful reactions -- it's such an amazing and lovely piece of sci-fi and was so moving to experience both of your reactions.
Why do I always cry when I watch a movie with guys!.. seriously.. always so emotional.. very therapeutic... love the energy and channel!
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Sci-fi meets Romantic Comedy.
You're welcome
I love how the movie title, "Arrival", arrives at the end of the film, a full circle moment literally.
Late comment and I reckon that some others might have mentioned it, but keep in mind that Louise was aware of everything that would happen in what we with our regular minds would consider "the future". She already had all those 12 years of "memories" with her daughter, so deciding not to have Hannah would have erased her - and those precious moments that Louise was aware of - from existence. We know that Hannah was healthy for most of her life, so I can't imagine that just "deleting" her would be an easy decision. All this also assumes that "the future" can be changed. I feel that in the context of the film, everything that happened and will happen, including Abbott's death, was "supposed" to happen.
Thanks for reacting to this wonderful, surprisingly emotional film!
One of my favourite movies. The short story that the screenplay was adapted from is also fantastic: "Story of Your Life," a 1998 short story by Ted Chiang
Of all the movies that I've watched people react to, this is the toughest for parents...but it resonates with them so much and I get choked up every time. Thank you for sharing your emotional response with us. (BTW, Contact is great!)
YESSSSSS. Man lemme get my coffee and I'm watching this. Thank you!
I don't watch a lot of Alien movies, but through watching these Arrival reactions it's interesting that most people assume the aliens are gonna attack back.
I never really had that thought, though I was very annoyed at the human opposition (trying to rush Dr. Banks to do her job etc.)
I saw a video or maybe a magazine article.. That piinted out, we have been/are being conditioned for the last 75 years, that aliens are going to harm h
Us... But why??😮
This is going to be so emotional for you guys what an epic film though
This film isn't scary Jane your safe,