Linguistics professor Louise Banks leads an elite team of investigators when gigantic spaceships touchdown in 12 locations around the world. As nations teeter on the verge of global war, Banks and her crew must race against time to find a way to communicate with the extraterrestrial visitors. Hoping to unravel the mystery, she takes a chance that could threaten her life and quite possibly all of mankind.

I saw this last night at the opening of the Mill Valley film Festival. Arrival is unlike any movie I’ve ever seen. It’s about love, loss, tolerance, language and non-linear time, wrapped in a science fiction story about our first encounter with extraterrestrials.
Under director Denis Villeneuve’s masterful direction, Arrival takes its time to unfold, but it gradually gets under your skin and commands your attention. The last half hour was one of the most emotional experiences I’ve had at the movies in a long time. There aren’t many movies these days that I would call required viewing, but this is one of them. And Amy Adams is Oscar-worthy in the lead role. In fact, Arrival could also win Oscars for original score, sound, direction and Best Picture.