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17
tHE FILM REVIEW CORNER
The film review corner
Film Review Corner
ARRIVAL
(2016)
Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner & Forest Whittaker
Prav Somarathne
Film Columnist
2nd Year Medical Student
“although there
is a certain
thoughtful charm
and creativity in
the execution, it is
slower paced than
other comparable
films”
Dennis Villeneuve’s
graceful entry into
mainstream cinema in
2013 with Prisoners was an
exercise of ample style and
substance. The muted greys
of the rainy Pennsylvanian
suburbs bore witness to the
sensitively painted tensions,
grievances and madnesses
of a tragedy-stricken
family. Sicario followed in
2015, displaying the same
deft and artful direction.
And in 2016 we have Arrival.
comparable Hollywood scifi productions, but it serves
Arrival well. Its emotional
arc is somewhat touching
and manages to dip only
a generous foot into twee
sentimentality whereas
Interstellar stripped off
and cannonballed in. It is
perhaps closer to 2001:
A Space Odyssey in its
calculated pacing and
distinct visual style (sans
floating space babies and
technicoloured psychedelia)
complete with allusions to
2001’s orange space suits
and black monoliths.
protagonist struggle to
come to terms with death,
the nature of time and our
own (in)significance.
While this is great, it is
not without its share of
problems, part of which
is that it descends into
cliché to fill the leftover
spaces: faceless, charmless
military men who are
much too ready to abandon
diplomacy; faceless,
charmless higher-up agent
types who throw spanner
Set in what seems to be
after spanner in the
present time, we follow Dr.
protagonist’s works; Russia
Louise Banks (Amy Adams),
and China wanting bombs
a high-flyer in the world of Arrival’s slick sleightfirst and questions later linguistics, who is contacted of-hand makes sure that
all basic tropes of a disaster
by the military to decipher
though it is marketed as
movie. It also suffers from
a warped and
another alien
a lack of interesting locales
“communication invasion story,
gutturaland visual stimuli: mainly
breakdown and
sounding but
its focus is
taking place in a grey
nevertheless
almost squarely house, grey alien room
global turmoil in
hot mixtape times of uncertainty” on the humans.
and grey army barracks from some
An approach
it’s sometimes painfully
new-on-the-scene
primed to explore the
bland-looking. The
extraterrestrials. Aided by
timely and topical themes of cinematographer of his last
astrophysicist Ian Donnelly, communication breakdown two films is absent from
she works to communicate
and global turmoil in times this one and sometimes it’s
meaningfully with them
of uncertainty as well as
all too apparent.
in order to find the reason
difficult circumstances at
for their visit, and along
the individual level. We see Arrival is not a great film, it
the way, they struggle with words, thoughts, intentions is however, a good one. It’s
metaphysical incertitude,
and actions interpreted
smarter than expected, but
dead children and fractions. and misinterpreted with
probably less smart than it
all the stupidity and
would like to be; it’s in turn
Though this is the basic
brilliance of which our
pretty and ugly and at once
premise of the film, there
little species is capable; we
entertaining and a little
is a certain thoughtful
see international relations
frustrating.
charm and creativity
break up, make up, break
in the execution. It is
down and pull itself back
As Banks would say, it’s a
slower paced than other
together; we see our
zero sum game.
Sphincter magazine | volume 80 issue 2 | Winter 2016 edition
Michael Clucas
Film Columnist
LMSS Webmaster
3rd year medical student
Black Mirror, the hit
television shows returns
for a third series with a
new home of Netflix, after
previously residing on the
BBC and continues in the
same vain as its previous
series.
BLACK MIRROR
Written &
Created by:
Each episode delves into
a different dystopian
future, each with different
characters and plots, and
usually there is little to
celebrate at the end. In
episode one, perhaps the
weakest of the series, a
fictional yet plausible
societies hierarchy is
ON
The series finishes
brilliantly, with the last
episode “hated in the
nation” being a one and-ahalf hour long who-dunnit, as a group of people are
being killed by flying robot
bees . As ridiculous as this
may seem, Charlie Brooker
manages to make the story
NOW
Charlie Brooker
dictated by the ratings
have a gripping plot and a
people give each other
subliminal message about
after every interaction on
the dangers of companies
a mobile app. The episode
having increasing power
tells a tale of a woman who
and state surveillance.
will go to any length to get a Entrenched throughout
higher rating,
It seems every Brooker’s
and with
philosophy is
episode has a
social media
making people
platforms such deeper underlying think about
as Tinder now
their future
message
endemic in our
with a hint of
population, it
dark humor,
sends us a chilling reminder and this is epitomized in this
not to let these take over our episode and the series as a
lives.
whole.
Written by genius Charlie
Brooker, black mirror gives
a dark and dirty reflection of
modern day life and paints
a mostly startling picture
of what society may one
day become. Perhaps most
harrowing is the fact that the
show in the previous series
As the world in each episode
has predicted future events
changes, as does the genre
correctly
of the episode with
five times,
series jumping
dark and dirty the
with one of
from petrifying
reflection of horror in episode
these being
an episode in
to a downright
modern day life two
which a prime
depressing action
minister is
story in episode
forced to have sex with a pig three. There truly is
(an act that David Hameron
something for everyone in
famously performed).
the series.
Season
Three (2016)
Brooker’s philosophy
is making people
think about their
future with a hint of
dark humor
It seems every episode has a
deeper underlying message,
and whether you watch it to
work out what this is or to
simply enjoy the amazing
acting or clever camera
work, make sure to give it a
watch!
Episode 1:
Nosedive
Episode 2:
Playtest
Episode 3:
Shut Up and Dance
Episode 4:
San Junipero
Episode 5:
Men Against Fire
Episode 6:
Hated in the Nation
Sphincter magazine | volume 80 issue 2 | Winter 2016 edition