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Denis Villeneuve 's Arrival , which was one of the very best films of 2016 , told the compelling story of a linguist (played by Amy Adams ) who is recruited by the U.S. Army to help establish communication with alien invaders before an all out world war breaks out. Of course, the real plot of Arrival was more about the complexities of human affection and yearning, as well as exploring the costs of love; the film is bookended by nonlinear vignettes that reinforce the theme behind  Alfred Lord Tennyson 's “'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” quote. Now Luxembourg filmmaker  Lukas Grevis   takes two of the film's key topics -- words and love -- and has made an introspective video essay that plays like a lucid memory (which ties into Arrival 's nonlinear structure) on the emotional arc of the film. Here is Grevis' video below.

"He's making all this up as he goes along." NOTE:  I was fortunate enough to attend a rare 70mm screening of Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master on Thursday August 16, 2012 at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. In attendance were writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson and one of the film's actors, Kevin J. O'Connor (both of whom are pictured with me here ). --   The key to the success of Paul Thomas Anderson 's The Master doesn't come in its mammoth achievement of being shot on 70mm film or its carefully constructed parallel origin story of L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology practices. Rather, that success is embedded in an intimate scene: a single shot close-up on alcoholic war veteran Freddie Sutton (an unforgettable Joaquin Phoenix ) during a "process of time" session with Lancaster Dodd ( Philip Seymour Hoffman in prime Hubbard form). Up until this scene, the character of Freddie dutifully performed the task of delive...