``The Arrival'' Denis Villeneuve's vivid Arrival that updates the senses of everyone who watches it.

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2018.01.15Ikuya Takamori

The production team that contributed to updating our sense of time

The visual experience, which updates our perception of time, is reinforced by visual and auditory elements. The first thing that impresses me is the circular heptapod ideogram. In this writing system, created by the design team for the film, the meaning of a sentence is expressed in a single circular letter, with no beginning or end. This symbolizes that time does not progress in a straight line from the past to the present to the future, but instead is connected like a circle.

Johan Johansson, who was in charge of the music, got the ``image of time circulating'' from the circular letters, and overdubbed the piano sound with a 16-track tape loop device. At that time, we deliberately left out the sound of keystrokes and faded in, making the beat vague and expressing a sense of endless time.

Additionally, shots of Louise's home covered in blue before dusk are repeated at the opening and closing moments of the film, with Max Richter's ` `On the Nature of Daylight '' playing in the background for both scenes. Once again, the end and the beginning are connected, and the image of time being circular is expressed.

Amy Adams' profound performance is a must-see!

Amy Adams was Villeneuve's first choice to play Louise. She flexibly portrayed the intellectual side of a linguist, the face of a mother who nurtures and cares for her daughter, and the strong will to face a crisis situation, creating a three-dimensional character.

As mentioned earlier, ``The Arrival'' has a compositional device. When you watch the movie again after you've finished the main story and understood all its plots and endings, you'll notice that Adams always exudes resignation in the "Memories of Louise and her daughter Hanna" scenes that are inserted from time to time. My chest tightens even more.

What is the “Arrival” sent by masterpiece science fiction?

Of course, watching this film does not mean that you will be able to acquire the same sense of time as Louise. Even so, ``The Arrival'' uses a vivid approach to remind us once again of the universal truth that ``life's time is finite, and death must come'', a fact that is so obvious that we often forget to even be aware of it. Instead of expecting death and despairing, live your life to the fullest. This is a new sense of time for the audience, and a supreme gift.

Text: Ikuya Takamori

Freelance writer, English-Japanese translator. Mainly contributes movie reviews and columns to web media, and translates news articles. The translated book is ``Science of Star Wars--Thorough verification! From the true nature of the Force to intergalactic travel” (written by Mark Blake and John Chase, published by Kagaku Doujin) and others.

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