I was instantly Enchanted by the trailer for this film: the lead is played by Amy Adams - one of the my favourite actors/actresses - and it is all about our First Contact with ET: The Extra-Terrestrial.
However, First Impressions are deceiving.
I attended this movie expecting a standard sci-fi plot. Yes, all the elements common to the scenarios painted by Independence Day and War of the Worlds are in place. Yet, there are twists in how these features are presented to me as a science-fiction novice. I had never previously engaged with the debate about language as a science and the bedrock of civilisation. As a languages graduate, I warmed to this plot line. The military response to the coming of the Aliens was both typical but at the same time different to that shown in countless previous films; a more balanced, realistic and sympathetic portrayal of how it would likely be.
Then there is the central performance of Adams herself. She is being touted for an Oscar nomination for this effort, alongside her performance in Nocturnal Animals (hopefully, she will get only a single nomination so that one does not cancel out the other). And she is worth the acclaim. She conveys emotion, fatigue, puzzlement, and the mundane so simply but effectively. No theatrical tricks, just small facial movements, or slight physical touches here and there. I never once questioned her in the role; I suspended my belief and wholly accepted her as Dr Louise Banks. She manages to simultaneously convey both the subject-matter expert and the everywoman that her part requires.
But there is more, because this film is not really A typical Space Odyssey. The central interest of the film is not really Louise Banks' Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but rather her character, mortal journey, and wider experiences and life-choice decisions.
The events of the movie are so cleverly presented that they deliberately lead the viewer to wrong conclusions. These are then masterfully punched in the gut as the film advances. The audience progressively realises how it has read the story line incorrectly, and is embraced by the full force of the emotional pain experienced by the central character.
My immediate response to this film was to want to stay in the cinema and watch it all again, to enjoy and savour the control that its Director Denis Villeneuve (also of Sicario - another great effort worthy of your consideration) exerts over the exercise.
And I haven't yet added any of what would be glowing comments about the supporting performances, the beautiful cinematography, or the design of the Alien technology.
The only small complaint I have was that at times the muscial score informed me a little too heavily how I should be connecting emotionally to the action on the screen - but, as I was usually responding in the precise manner suggested, this did not become too big a problem for me.
This was my favourite cinema experience so far of 2016, and I would heartily recommend this film to you. Oh, and my movie-going buddy Ian from South Africa enjoyed it too: possibly the first (and last!) time we have agreed about a film.