"In war there are no winners, only widows" - General Shang's wife's last words.

Just like Louise went ahead with her life with Ian knowing the pain in her future, so did the aliens go knowing one of them would die in an explosion trying to pass on the weapon.

I've rarely seen a sci-fi movie get this deep. This one is underrated.

I'm a student of linguistics, and at my university department, this movie has immediately become "THE linguistics movie" - I expect it to be held in high regard by linguists in general. and on top of being a great introduction into why linguistics rocks as a field of study, this movie manages to also be one of the best sci-fi movies of the last 20 years or so, easily.

"I hope this movie doesn't make me sad".... oh girl...

What really got to me was the message. Amy’s character definitely thought her daughter’s short life was worth the pain. Now, let’s apply it to our own life. Many of us are scared of living because living confronts us with death. In an irrational way, if we don’t live, we don’t die. But death is inevitable. If we knew how long we had, we might take the effort to enjoy life, because it will be worth it.

Hannah is a palindrome, which is a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of characters which reads the same backward as forward. It’s like the language, circular, no start and no end. Brilliant.

There was a great HBO documentary years ago called “Letters from Vietnam”. They showed clips fro the war while famous actors and actresses read letters that were written by soldiers and their families to each other. One devastating letter was from a mom who left the letter at her son’s grave and said (paraphrasing here) “I would rather have the 20 amazing years I had with you and all the pain since you’re gone than never having known you”. So yeah, that sentiment of ‘would you have that child knowing the pain that’s to come?’ is so poignant. The central thesis from this movie is how amazing love is that humans can share for one another if they just decide to open up their hearts and accept the potential pain. Wonderful movie and great reaction!!

I know a lot of people in the comments are debating about free will and whether she would have a choice or not...but I think the main point is that even though there would be heartbreak...there would be a lot of love, beauty and happiness too. And in a way, isnt that what life and death is all about?

The score and sound design are practically characters in the film; they are so incredible and absolutely integral to the whole tone.

I'm so glad you liked this film, it is a sci-fi masterpiece. One of the rare occasions where they took and made the movie better than the original story and if you haven't read any of Ted Chiang's short story collections, he really is one of the best sci-fi writers writing today.

"I hope it doesn't make me sad." (Takes LOOOOOOONG sip of tea) Oh, Alanda, let me tell you....

Great reaction with great commentary. You killed me with, "We're gonna get a little distance, think about- what you did."😂😂😂

"you are stupider than a bag of hair" i'm gonna use that one, thanks Alanda

Yours was easily the most astute, thoughtful, and heartfelt reaction to this film that I've seen. I'm so glad to see such appreciation of this absolute gem of a movie. Good sci fi is a rarity nowadays, but Arrival delivered in spades and it was a thrill to see someone react to it the same way I did. It was so rewarding to share in that sense of wonder again. Thanks so much for sharing.

Arrival: Talk to the Hands

This is one of my favorite movies. It’s up there with Jodie Foster's Contact.

I have to say that I love your reaction. It is nice to see someone clever enough to understand and appreciate this film.

Fun fact: "orudie" in Russian may mean tool/instrument or artillery weapon. As the English word "piece" may mean a pistol.

Imagine KNOWING the worst thing is going to happen to you, but allowing it to happen anyway. It’s the journey she embraced, not the destination. She welcomed it all. This film, from aesthetics to score never fails to move me. ♥️

I made the decision to go watch this movie the week after my daughter died, not realizing what I was in for.

Hat's off to whomever suggested this amazing film! 👍

"The way this girl is experiencing time is really tripping me out." Brilliant. I thoroughly enjoyed you catching the clues and piecing it together. Great reaction. May I suggest the very very low budget 2009 film "Ink." It also tackles philosophy 102 mind/body and freewill concepts in a very interesting way. I've shared the film with a few people who didn't get it. You will get it - although one has to have some patience and acceptance to get past the initial timing and low budgetness of the film. (or maybe I just like it because I like to think about those topics... dunno)

I'm not sure how I came across the book of short stories the story this film is based on. I think a different story from it came up in a SciFi podcast I listen to and it hooked me enough to find it - "Stories of Your Life and Others" by Ted Chiang. At the time short stories were all I could manage. In the book the daughter dies later - at age 25 in a climbing accident. Obviously she can't die that late in the film - Amy Adams at "talks with animals" time will not look like Amy Adams over a quarter century later. Seventeen years was pushing it, let's be honest. An interesting case of the medium affecting the story you can tell. Not having to show, books can slip the odd little lie past you. My mom was dying of ALS when I read it. And she had died by the time the film came out - one of the first I saw after she passed. I was a bit unstuck in time myself. In those last few years I had done many of the things my grandmother had done for my mom in her first few years - merely in reverse. In a sense we each played one half of Louise's role here - minus the aliens of course. Two people whose lives briefly overlapped but with a common purpose. There was a bit of a debate about Louise "choosing" to have a child who would die when the film was released. First, that's not exactly how time seems to work in this story and there's a good debate about free will and determinism to be had there. But for me, on a more emotional level (and rather raw one at that time), the debate seemed false because everyone who has a child is going to have one who will die. The only question is who will be there for them when that time comes. That can seem dark, but only if you focus on that one moment. The end moment. There are so many more moments with far greater weight and meaning. Those are what really matters. What we share. How we affect others. What we build; what we fix. Anyway, thanks for sharing your moments reacting. I suppose obviously this story meant and means a lot to me so I'm glad it touched you. Stories, in all forms, can be a great escape in all sorts of times, but sometimes they can do far more.

you got me with the "Girl whats going on with your hair...oh we prefer a wavy look" haha

I like that her daughter's name (Hannah) reads the same forwards and backwards. It's "circular", like the alien language. Beautiful movie, beautiful reaction. I just found your channel. Hope you do more great movie reactions.

I watched this movie (and read the short story it's based on) for a film and literature class in college, and it was my favorite of the course. I still get chills when the "twist" is revealed, and I still cry at Hannah's death at the beginning and during the end sequence.

This is one of my favorite movies, and I've seen a few reactions to this movie here in YT, and your reaction is by far the best. Such wisdom, and humor in your reaction. I laughed and cried with you. And, I believe you are the only reactor that I've seen that understood the timelessness of Louise's experience quite a bit earlier than most people did. I really enjoyed watching this video. Thank you.

I absolutely love this Film and Louise’s character, she is so well written! She’s always the smartest in the room and it never feels fake or performative, it just feels real. She feels like a real person, not just a character.

Since you're on a Villeneuve path, try watching Blade Runner 2049 and the YT clips before the movie. You can watch the first Blade Runner too for context.

wonderful film. the short story collection it's from is called Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang, and it is amaaaaazing

The music in this movie is just mesmerizing. RIP Jóhann Jóhannsson.

Have you seen “Contact” with Jodie Foster. Another great alien contact movie.

Arrival is a literal masterpiece, but Renners "Wanna make a baby" line at the end of the movie is one of the most unintentionally funny things I've ever heard.

"I hope it doesn't make me sad" procedes to watch the first 5 minutes. Love the channel! Love the range of different kinds of movies you do.

Such a great movie. I expected a lot and it far surpassed my expectations. I've rewatched this a bunch of times and I see something new each time. Glad you loved it as much as I did.

Your intelligence and humor make for a fun watch.

Thank you for letting me experience this remarkable science fiction movie for the first time again, Alanda. THE ARRIVAL is the only first contact movie I've seen where the trauma of such an encounter is explored. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND goes there for a moment or two but the scientists and military all seem pretty mild-mannered around the UFOs. I'd be barfing. Keep these wonderful movie reactions coming! I'm happy to become a subscriber.

You are honestly so smart. You were all over this movie connecting the dots before they happened.

This movie destroys me every time I see it. It's so profound, and the pain of knowing she will lose her daughter and her husband, but being aware of how much more valuable it is to have the experience than to live a totally safe existence. And the music. Just all of it. It's a work of art and it's heartbreaking, but I love it.

"Despite knowing the journey, and where it leads...I embrace it, and I welcome every moment of it."

Seeing this on the big screen was such a treat. From the reveal of the ship to the massive details of the aliens language. Now I live somewhere without a movie theater. I'm going to miss seeing Dune on the big screen.

She said "good thing they're slow because if they were scurrying up to the wall ermmm no" 🤣🤣

One of my favorite movies of all time. I love it from beginning to end, end to beginning

I forgot how emotional this movie makes me. Man.

A beautiful and intelligent reaction to a beautiful and intelligent film. In the book, 112 devices resembling large semi-circular mirrors appear at sites across the globe (nine in the US).

On the nature of daylight has a direct line to my tear ducts.

"Groceries, weapons, family"......it doesn't matter whether this girl is serious or hysterical....she always hits the nail on the head.

This was a very Sentimental and Thought provoking movie. The way they interpreted Time in its non linear form was So Smart 🤓. This movie is def on my top10 Sci Fi Space/Alien encounter movies. I would recommend other masterpieces like: - INTERSTELLAR (Matthew McConaughey & Anne Hathaway) - CONTACT (Jodie Foster & Matthew McConaughey)

You really need a patreon so you can do full length reactions to these. I would easily pay $5-$10 for a full length reaction to this. There is too much in a full length movie to be able to cut it down for YT.

🇨🇦❤️Thank you so much for reviewing this remarkable film. I went to see it alone in the theatre the night before the 2016 U.S. election and I wept quietly at the end and wished that everyone would see it. Unfortunately, I understood that the divisiveness we all saw would take hold of the country and potentially bring everyone to the brink of destruction. This movie perfectly captured what global cooperation could mean. I watch it a couple of times a year because I find it fascinating on many levels. Your reaction to this movie is great and I’m now subscribed.

The score for this movie is one my absolute favourite. It's so haunting and emotional, especially after watching the movie. Lovely reaction, thank you for this ❤

I'm glad you appreciated this movie. It's a very intelligent movie that requires intelligence to appreciate, and I knew you were pretty intelligent. I have no doubt that we would find real aliens just this incomprehensible. We can't even comprehend dolphins. Love your reactions.

WOW IM CRYING ?? like the ending is moving me more than usual this time. Ive seen this movie at least 4 times now but WOW you've reminded me of so much

This movie always makes me cry. It’s one of those rare films I rewatch every year.

This is my favorite movie of all time. The ending always gets to me every single time I watch it.

This is by far one of my favorite movies. People underestimate the power of language.

@37:00, the sad part is that when you really really think about it every child is born with the parents knowing they will die. But I guess when you see outside of time it’s perhaps worth it. Live to take what you can get the joy, the pain and embrace it

I got back into my car after this movie and just cried! Kept saying to myself “she had the baby anyway.” 😩😩😩

It broke him when she agreed to make a baby, knowing that the daughter would die of a horrible disease. He just couldn't forgive her for that "mistake". That's a very tough decision to make. Would you bring that daughter into the world knowing what would happen, or would you avoid all that pain. In the end, Louise decided that the years of joy were worth more than those of pain.

Wow! I love reaction channels and i can't believe I only just found yours! What a phenomenal reaction. So amazing to hear your thoughts on this film!!

I love this reaction (and all of your reactions so far) because you are so tuned in to the plot, so focused that you call out significant plot points as they occur, yet manage to squeeze in such great colorful commentary along the way ! Thanks for always keepin’ it real !

One of my fav sci-fi movies and best sci-fi movie of 2010-2020

One of the strangest movies I've ever seen! At the same time I like the fact that the aliens ar not some humanoids speaking perfect english! If we ever meet extra trrestrials, , it might be exactly like that! Creatures completely ALIEN to us ( pun intended)! The ending is also original! Another great choice, by a great reviewer...with GREAT hair! lol

Best sci-fi film of the year! It had a strong Day the Earth Stood Still vibe; recommend watching that classic film (1951). So glad the director did the new Dune movie. Can’t wait for it!

What a great reaction! I love this movie and it was so fun to experience it again with someone new to it :) I'll look forward to seeing more reactions! Cheers from Sweden :D

"You're committing the act of getting on my last fucking nerve." I'm putting that on a T shirt.

Absolutely one of the best science fiction films of the last 25 years. And you need to watch this in a theatre one day.

Someone, elsewhere on KZfaq, explained Louise's perspective this way (though I'm paraphrasing): Lousie doesnt merely see the future. She can see all of time, all at once. Like looking at a mural on a wall. So asking, "Would you have a child if you knew they would die in this way" isn't the right question. What's actually happening is you're asking a grieving parent who's child has just died, young, if they would go back and undo all the life they lived. That's why it seemed like Lousie was grieving at the start of the movie. She was. She just didn't know it.

I did not expect this movie, a sci-fi/philosophical film that doesn't speak down to its audience yet has a deep emotional core to its storytelling. The year it was in competition, it was nominated but unfortunately overlooked due to the runaway successes of "Moonlight" and "La La Land."

Ummm, wowzer. Don't know whether to smile or cry. Thank you from Iowa ❤️

OMG. Best review and the most beautiful movie ever. Had a hard time taking my eyes off you throughout, but who knows, thinking of the future (see, you can’t blame me in the past for that total that comes on , unless what they did)

I was sitting here watching your Galaxy Quest vid and was like, “I’d love to watch her reaction to Arrival…” and it popped up!! 😍 Let’s fuckin GOOOOOOO. This is one of the few movies I saw on a whim hearing nothing about it and thought it was fantastic.

Anything made by Denis Villeneuve! Also, if you've never seen "Dark City", it's a scifi classic from the 90s that you might like.

"You are committing an act of Getting On My Last F'in Nerve" - 🤣

Started watching your reaction & paused to go rewatch the movie myself. I BAWLED. I forgot how much I very much enjoy this one.

I absolutely love this movie! If I really enjoy a movie here & there.. once in a while i might watch it twice at the movies. But this one I loved so much that I saw it 3 times at the theater!!

Finally watched this movie, just so I could then watch this video. And yeah, I think we're on the same wavelength about it, this was incredible. Also shows you how hard the simple act of communication can be.

Such a powerful, beautiful film. And that soundtrack. Great reaction too! :)

That whole collection of short stories that Ted Chiang put out that The Arrival was in was pretty great, definitely a lot of deep and large ideas.

I love this movie so much. I read an awesome fan theory on the question of how humans could possibly help the aliens if they already know what's going to happen in the future and they're way more advanced than us. If, say, the aliens all die off for some reason in 3000 years, the reason they don't know what happened is because they have to be alive to "see" the future. If they all died, it would be a blank spot in their collective memory. Humans are the masters of linear time because we've lived it ever since we began. And one of the many things we've done is try to predict things because knowing the future helps us. So humans have gotten really good at predicting a lot of future events, like weather forecasts or geological stuff like earthquakes. If you're an alien who knows all of time, you would never need to build things that predict the future because you can live the future whenever you want. The big negative is that your people don't even have the concept of prediction or guessing the future because you never needed it before. (There was also a little line somewhere in the movie, I forget where, but someone says that the aliens understand calculus but they don't understand algebra. Algebra is linear!) So basically they taught us their way of seeing time in exchange for us helping them predict what happens to them before they all die off, because they don't know how to do that. That's just a fan theory I saw but I thought it was really neat and made a lot of sense.

I'm not one to get super freaked out at movies, but when I saw this one in theatres it was a TIME. My friends and I had been drinking beforehand and when I'm sobering up my anxiety tends to go into overdrive, but we all just kinda picked a movie without thinking. So there's me, sitting in the second row of the theatre, already on the verge of a panic attack, and the aliens show up for the first time. The seats are shaking it's so loud, the aliens are like 20 feet tall, and I damn near shit myself. Scariest movie experience I've had to date tbh. (PS. I just found your channel and I've been binging all your videos I love them thank you for the good content!!)

I commented on one of your videos before. I feel I should do it again. This is not something I've told anyone I haven't met. I'm ex-Army. You don't want weapons (I lived in the south, now I live near Seattle. I get it. Been shot at in America and Iraq). Thank you for your honesty but don't ask for weapons. They cause nothing but trouble. Love you boo from the northwest -- Again, I'll just say lived in Oklahoma Arkansas, San Francisco, New York, South Carolina, Seattle, Thailand, Japan, Korea, countless places in Europe. South Africa. (edited to add SA, sorry). I'm happy to have spoken with you. As I said before -- you rock. Keep up keeping up boo. Thank you. I'll keep watching and supporting you.

I once had a 2 month relationship with a girl from overseas. She didn't speak a word of English, and I didn't speak a word of Taiwanese. We understood each other just fine. It wasn't what we said but it was how it was said. Try it sometime. You'll be amazed just how easy it is for 2 humans to communicate.

I saw Arrival in the theatre when it came out. I remembered it as a good movie that was actual Science Fiction, but I forgot most of the details. Your video made me go back and watch it again. I'm even more impressed the second time. I think some of the stuff that I forgot, I didn't really forget - I probably didn't catch them at all on the first viewing. Thank you.

great movie, great reaction, was good to rewatch with you, thank you!

This is my favourite movie of all time. I watched it 4 times in cinemas and probably 10 times overall by now. Truly spectacular and deeply underrated film

"Groceries, weapons, family members." My first thought when pandemonium breaks out in movies.

I love the depiction of first contact in this movie. It's so... alien. We have to figure out the way THEY talk and think, because their not Star Trek humanoid aliens.

great movie. I loved the way it revealed itself over time.

The scene where she first sees the ship in the open fog filled field & the sounds are very whale-like. This was "inspired" by the sf movie "Wavelength" by Mike Gray.

It's so great to watch somebody watching this movie who actually gets it

In the same vibe, you might love the movie "Her". I highly recommand it, and there aren't reactions of it on KZfaq

The humor and intelligence of your reactions :)

This movie is so spectacular. That ending gets me

Stopping partway through to say nice to meet you, Alanda, first-time visitor. I love reactions to the shows and films I enjoy and follow a grip of reactors. I really like your chill, funny style ('...Honey; I'd be like groceries, weapons, family members.' Bahahaha great stuff 😆. Anyway, just wanted to say hey and that you got a new subscriber. Now to finish this and then see what else is in your playlist, haha. Oh and thanks - we know it's time consuming and often aggrivating getting these edited and up - thank you. 😌

One of my favorite movies of all time. So beautiful and contemplative UGH

36:29 "Well, you're committing an act of gettin' on my last fuckin' nerve!" 🤣😆 Your commentary is hilarious!

I took my sister to see this after I had seen it and after the opening scenes with Louise and her daughter she was wiping her eyes and said “that’s how the movie begins?!” And I sat there thinking “just wait until you see the ending and the truth about her daughter.”

Yes, absolutely, 'what a movie'. It's probably my all-time favourite, and it was a pleasure to watch your reactions to it. For another thoughtful sci-fi great that often falls through people's net, I would recommend 'Edge of Tomorrow' ('Live, Die, Repeat'). And if you're on Netflix, you might also like to consider 'I Am Mother'. Both have a Rotten Tomato rating of 91%, and are well worth your time.