As our planet struggles to work out the intentions of 12 gigantic, pebble-shaped craft hovering over its surface, US Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) turns to linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) for help. What do the aliens want? Are they peaceful visitors or invaders? Is it even possible to accurately communicate with a species so different from our own? Other countries are trying to come up with their own answers to those questions, and as tensions across the globe begin to mount, the possibility of a third world war begins to rear its head. Working with a variety of cinematographers, Villeneuve has long shown an unfailing ability to generate tension from stark images: the dystopian atmosphere of Toronto skyscrapers in the captivatingly bizarre Enemy, a heart-stopping traffic jam in Sicario. In Arrival, photographer Bradford Young (who made JC Chandor’s A Most Violent Year look so beautifully desolate) shoots the hovering ships and military camps beneath them with a cool, sober eye, contrasting these with the warm glow of Banks’ memories, shot in Malick-like mid-shots and close-ups. Similarly, Johann Johannson’s score moves between the lushly contemplative to the jarringly alien, reflecting the film’s theme of choking back fear and pressing on into the unknown. The result is a sci-fi film filled with suspense, tenderness and thought-provoking ideas. Amy Adams is magnificent as the linguist at the centre of a world-changing event; Jeremy Renner turns in a quiet, introspective supporting performance as a mathematician brought in to help solve the visitors’ mysteries. The interplay between the two, as they seek to understand an unfathomably complex alien language, feels effortlessly natural; as well as a sci-fi movie, Arrival functions as an astutely observed relationship drama. There’s so much more to be written and discussed about Arrival, but it’s best discovered first-hand than spoiled in a review. Its sounds and images have the kind of power that makes them hang like cobwebs in the mind for days. Its performances – particularly from Amy Adams – are quiet yet also deeply moving. The film’s events are, I suspect, going to be talked about and pondered over for a long time to come. The sci-fi writer Arthur C Clarke once wrote that, if we were to encounter an alien technology that was sufficiently advanced, it would be indistinguishable from magic. Arrival imagines a meeting of humans and extraterrestrials that is terrifying, awe-inspiring, and even perception-shattering. As a piece of filmmaking, it too is like a work of magic.