Arrival is a wonderful departure from the typical close encounter film. It breathes communication and symbiosis into the genre with a narrative that hovers above the simmering government paranoia and potential conflict. And the picture is fantastic.

The day after the alien shells arrive, Dr. Louise Banks (Adams) is letdown by her empty lecture theater, laying bare her dedication to her linguistics work and her apathy toward anything else. It is a brief moment in a film that dissolves the barriers between moments.

In Adams’ long overdue lead role, supported nicely by Whitaker and Renner, she redirects her heartbreak and comforts her loss by forming a maternal understanding with the alien heptapods. She interprets their language and, most importantly, begins to think as they do. All the while, she conveys the wonder of language to us.

The cinematography is clever as the visual communication is monochrome but the language is a complex circular convergence of time. The film’s only glitch is the daft use of a couple subtitles near the conclusion, cheapening the pleasant nonverbal communication throughout. I could tell what they were saying.

We greet Arrival with 4.91 napkins out of 5, the universal language of the Film Clas elite.