ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Future

tiff16: ARRIVAL

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When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team, led by expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams), is brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers — and to find them, she will take a chance that?could threaten her life, and, quite possibly, humanity.

With ARRIVAL, Denis Villeneuve takes his first steps into the science fiction genre?(he is currently filming the highly-anticipated sequel to BLADE RUNNER) and manages to surprise us in the best of ways. ?Rather than succumbing to the temptation to develop the more traditional ‘alien invasion’ piece, Villeneuve opts for a more poignant approach by focusing the story on character development and relationships. ?In doing so, Villeneuve creates an atmosphere of tension and intrigue as communication between the alien species and human race unfolds like?an intense game of chess with the future of the earth hanging in the balance.

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What’s more, the film is anchored by?an incredible performance by Adams as she seamlessly moves between hearts of?both courage and emotional trauma. ?With strong outings?in both ARRIVAL and Tom Ford’s NOCTURNAL ANIMALS, she could very well finally be poised for recognition come Oscar time. ?Although it also?features solid?performances from its supporting cast (Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker), there’s little question that this?is Adams’ film and she seizes the opportunity.

Without giving away any spoilers, Villeneuve also has much to say within the film about the nature of language and communication. ?Is communication what brings us together or a roadblock? ?Or is it possible that truth can get lost in translation? ?These questions, in addition to the theme of ‘leaning into fear’ provide more than enough content to ?lift ARRIVAL beyond your run-of-the-mill?sci-fi piece.

Without question, this was one of my favourite films of the fest this year and could receive significant notoriety come awards season.

Trust me. ?The film is not what you expect.

And that is a very good thing.

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TV Screened: Minority Report (1:1) – What Is Your Future?

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In 2002, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise teamed up to deliver Philip K. Dick’s science fiction short story to the big screen in a move that received critical acclaim. Personally, it’s one of my top ten sci-fi flicks of all time, balancing action, mystery, special effects, and spellbinding questions about what we would do if we knew the future. Ultimately, it’s a very direct question about omniscience.

In FOX’s new television show, the three precogs (humans with the capacity to know the future) have been relocated into witness protection and the crime-stopping program they were involved with has been shut down. Dash (Stark Sands) believes he should still use his powers for good, and reluctantly comes out of the shadows to team with Washington, D.C. detective Lara Vaga (Meagan Good) to stop crime. His twin brother, Arthur (Nick Zano), is reluctant to trust the government again, choosing to use his powers for his own gain; the boys’ adoptive older sister, Agatha (Laura Regan), remains a recluse.

Each episode looks to be self-contained, a bit like?Person of Interest?or?Early Edition, with a gradually revealed mythos that is hinted at in?a conversation between Agatha and Arthur at the end of the episode. This is intriguing, of course, because it wrestles with the future, even while the three precogs are not given a complete picture of what that future looks like. As the audience, we’re aware that knowing the future isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be (consider Cruise’s Captain John Anderson), but with knowledge of the future, there’s great responsibility. It’s also noteworthy that an ongoing theological debate includes a discussion of whether or not God being omniscient means that he causes everything to happen or he (more simply) knows what will happen. That cause and effect is in play in the show as well.

There’s also responsibility here, speaking as a fan, for the way FOX handles this. While I loved the film, I didn’t love the idea that it would be a show. Could they go somewhere with the material for a season and not water it down? Could they pull off the special effects without being cheesy? The premiere would imply that they can, but now we must wait and see what happens over the next few weeks.

I mean, none of us knows the future, right?

Minority Report airs on FOX at 9 p.m. on Mondays, but you can catch an encore of the premiere on Friday night.?