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Spoiler: This is the best movie I’ve ever seen in my life period. This moment in the beginning draws you into the movie and then you have the intense effect o

by egfx 6y ago

Spoiler: This is the best movie I’ve ever seen in my life period. This moment in the beginning draws you into the movie and then you have the intense effect of immersion throughout the film, and in the end the unreal scene where Ellie touches the universe bubble. It warps up leaving you with a perfect quality of awe and wander. The whole movie is a perfect trifecta of trifecta’s.

jordache 6y ago
No doubt the excellent book it was based on had an overwhelming contribution to the overall success of the movie.
hirundo 6y ago
The book is even better. As great a science educator as Carl Sagan was, I think he was a better science fiction author. I only wish he wrote more of it. Ellie makes a mind bending mathematical discovery at the end of the novel that puts the whole story in an even vaster context. The movie skipped it. It's almost as egregious as Peter Jackson skipping the scouring of the shire.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- fossuser 6y ago
  Yeah - it's cliche to say the book is better, but in this case it's not just better - the movie is an inversion of the book’s core idea. In the book they send an elected representative group in the ship. She's gathering evidence at the end to confirm her story and persuade others that it's not a mass delusion (of which the mathematical discovery is a part). In the movie Jodie Foster cries and says they have to take it on faith - basically the exact opposite of the book's message.
  - branko_d 6y ago
    > In the movie Jodie Foster cries and says they have to take it on faith. Except they don't have to... there are hours of static from her camera, something that should not be possible if she spent only a fraction of a second out of contact.
    - LeoPanthera 6y ago
      This tiny scene ruins the movie, IMHO. I have a personal edit which simply cuts out the scene where they discover that the camera ran for hours, and it vastly improves it.
      - SeanBoocock 6y ago
        Oh wow, I have always considered this scene a blight on an otherwise perfect movie. I have often speculated over the years that it wasn't in the original script and was a pickup after test screenings or inserted because a producer was scared audiences couldn't handle the ambiguity. One way of reading the film is as an epistemological exploration of modern society and how one character evolves their belief systems in the face of both ordinary and extraordinary events. I love the movie far more than the book because it doesn't neatly resolve the "truth" of what Ellie experiences, and it leaves the audience, minus this scene, in the same place as the protagonist.
    - mjevans 6y ago
      Yes, of "static". Which just reuses the signal from space plot-hook from the start of the film. Presumably that static, either in raw data or a display encoded form, could also contain a similar bit of vital data that will eventually be useful.
  - hindsightbias 6y ago
    I think the movie ending is better. Sagan wanted some ambiguity but then copped out with the math thing. If Ellie had instead spent decades pursuing another "crazy" idea (like SETI was) and found the answer much later, then it would have been more satisfying (proving life, proving creator mystery - which is somewhat a contradiction for Sagan). At around the same time, a group of religious NASA contractor folks I knew and had had faith conversations with where getting satellite imagery of Mt. Ararat. Those of us unbelievers somehow lacked "faith" but true believers like them were hunting for the Ark...
    - hirundo 6y ago
      I think Sagan's ending is highly -- perhaps uncharacteristically -- religious. It practically proves the existence of an intelligent creator ... a watermark stamped on reality. It suggests that it was the creator that reached out to Earth, and Ellie, and cared about her feelings. The ending is Ellie the devout modern priestess of a cold clockwork universe coming face to face with an animate aware personal universe. It's the mathematical version of Palmer Joss's message. This is Sagan attempting to reconcile Ellie and Palmer, a dream of a scientific theology.
      - fossuser 6y ago
        I get what you’re saying, but I’d argue it’s not “religious” in the normal way we use the word. In Sagan’s book a scientist uncovers evidence that the universe was built and she’s working to leverage the scientific method to understand it. In that universe that appears to be what’s going on, but it’s the evidence that leads them in that direction. I don’t buy that the “creator” cared about her feelings. In the book, the aliens she meets are just a more advanced inhabitant of the universe, they don’t know its origin either. Religion usually does away with evidence to rely on faith based reasoning (which is basically what the movie does). The reason I don’t like the movie is it distorts the book’s point to be the opposite of what it was.
- matthewsinclair 6y ago
  Agree. It always bothered me that they dropped that bit from the movie (which I still loved). Reading that page in the book literally made my hair stand on end.
jcims 6y ago
I can’t think about this movie without revisiting that existential dread and hopelessness that I felt halfway through. As someone that was in government contracting at the time, it was quickly followed by a strong contender for my favorite line from any movie ever.
- barnabask 6y ago
  “First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?”
  - jcims 6y ago
    The elation.
darkhorse13 6y ago
I feel the same way. Highly underrated movie in my opinion.
jayd16 6y ago
The whole just kidding, we have another spaceship plot device loses a lot of points for me but I remember liking a lot of it.
- riffraff 6y ago
  I liked that part quite a bit, it made _sense_ to have a backup for such an important thing, and it felt refreshing compared to a lot of "we only have one chance" plots.
dylan604 6y ago
The commentary talks about the decision making process for the opening sequence specifically about how risky it was to just have absolute silence for such an extended length in a feature. It was an absolue brilliant choice and really helps deliver the effect of how far way the camera moves.
webmobdev 6y ago
If you loved Contact, you will love Arrival too - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164/ ...
- mbroncano 6y ago
  And as they mentioned above, the book (short story actually) from Ted Chiang is possibly even more profound
  - MrMember 6y ago
    I read the short story several years after seeing the movie and I was completely blown away by how good it was even though I already knew how it would play out. Far and away the best short story I've ever read and it isn't even close.
dreamcompiler 6y ago
Come to New Mexico and visit the VLA. It's even more impressive in real life. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array

by egfx 6y ago

jordache 6y ago

No doubt the excellent book it was based on had an overwhelming contribution to the overall success of the movie.

hirundo 6y ago

The book is even better. As great a science educator as Carl Sagan was, I think he was a better science fiction author. I only wish he wrote more of it. Ellie makes a mind bending mathematical discovery at the end of the novel that puts the whole story in an even vaster context. The movie skipped it. It's almost as egregious as Peter Jackson skipping the scouring of the shire.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
fossuser 6y ago
Yeah - it's cliche to say the book is better, but in this case it's not just better - the movie is an inversion of the book’s core idea. In the book they send an elected representative group in the ship. She's gathering evidence at the end to confirm her story and persuade others that it's not a mass delusion (of which the mathematical discovery is a part). In the movie Jodie Foster cries and says they have to take it on faith - basically the exact opposite of the book's message.
- branko_d 6y ago
  > In the movie Jodie Foster cries and says they have to take it on faith. Except they don't have to... there are hours of static from her camera, something that should not be possible if she spent only a fraction of a second out of contact.
  - LeoPanthera 6y ago
    This tiny scene ruins the movie, IMHO. I have a personal edit which simply cuts out the scene where they discover that the camera ran for hours, and it vastly improves it.
    - SeanBoocock 6y ago
      Oh wow, I have always considered this scene a blight on an otherwise perfect movie. I have often speculated over the years that it wasn't in the original script and was a pickup after test screenings or inserted because a producer was scared audiences couldn't handle the ambiguity. One way of reading the film is as an epistemological exploration of modern society and how one character evolves their belief systems in the face of both ordinary and extraordinary events. I love the movie far more than the book because it doesn't neatly resolve the "truth" of what Ellie experiences, and it leaves the audience, minus this scene, in the same place as the protagonist.
  - mjevans 6y ago
    Yes, of "static". Which just reuses the signal from space plot-hook from the start of the film. Presumably that static, either in raw data or a display encoded form, could also contain a similar bit of vital data that will eventually be useful.
- hindsightbias 6y ago
  I think the movie ending is better. Sagan wanted some ambiguity but then copped out with the math thing. If Ellie had instead spent decades pursuing another "crazy" idea (like SETI was) and found the answer much later, then it would have been more satisfying (proving life, proving creator mystery - which is somewhat a contradiction for Sagan). At around the same time, a group of religious NASA contractor folks I knew and had had faith conversations with where getting satellite imagery of Mt. Ararat. Those of us unbelievers somehow lacked "faith" but true believers like them were hunting for the Ark...
  - hirundo 6y ago
    I think Sagan's ending is highly -- perhaps uncharacteristically -- religious. It practically proves the existence of an intelligent creator ... a watermark stamped on reality. It suggests that it was the creator that reached out to Earth, and Ellie, and cared about her feelings. The ending is Ellie the devout modern priestess of a cold clockwork universe coming face to face with an animate aware personal universe. It's the mathematical version of Palmer Joss's message. This is Sagan attempting to reconcile Ellie and Palmer, a dream of a scientific theology.
    - fossuser 6y ago
      I get what you’re saying, but I’d argue it’s not “religious” in the normal way we use the word. In Sagan’s book a scientist uncovers evidence that the universe was built and she’s working to leverage the scientific method to understand it. In that universe that appears to be what’s going on, but it’s the evidence that leads them in that direction. I don’t buy that the “creator” cared about her feelings. In the book, the aliens she meets are just a more advanced inhabitant of the universe, they don’t know its origin either. Religion usually does away with evidence to rely on faith based reasoning (which is basically what the movie does). The reason I don’t like the movie is it distorts the book’s point to be the opposite of what it was.
matthewsinclair 6y ago
Agree. It always bothered me that they dropped that bit from the movie (which I still loved). Reading that page in the book literally made my hair stand on end.

jcims 6y ago

I can’t think about this movie without revisiting that existential dread and hopelessness that I felt halfway through. As someone that was in government contracting at the time, it was quickly followed by a strong contender for my favorite line from any movie ever.

barnabask 6y ago
“First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?”
- jcims 6y ago
  The elation.

darkhorse13 6y ago

I feel the same way. Highly underrated movie in my opinion.

jayd16 6y ago

The whole just kidding, we have another spaceship plot device loses a lot of points for me but I remember liking a lot of it.

riffraff 6y ago
I liked that part quite a bit, it made _sense_ to have a backup for such an important thing, and it felt refreshing compared to a lot of "we only have one chance" plots.

dylan604 6y ago

The commentary talks about the decision making process for the opening sequence specifically about how risky it was to just have absolute silence for such an extended length in a feature. It was an absolue brilliant choice and really helps deliver the effect of how far way the camera moves.

webmobdev 6y ago

If you loved Contact, you will love Arrival too - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164/ ...

mbroncano 6y ago
And as they mentioned above, the book (short story actually) from Ted Chiang is possibly even more profound
- MrMember 6y ago
  I read the short story several years after seeing the movie and I was completely blown away by how good it was even though I already knew how it would play out. Far and away the best short story I've ever read and it isn't even close.

dreamcompiler 6y ago

Come to New Mexico and visit the VLA. It's even more impressive in real life. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array