Appealing to the cerebrally-inclined

IN cinematic terms, the idea of aliens on our doorstep - to help or to hurt us - is nothing new but Arrival, director Denis Villeneuve's intricate contribution to the genre, manages to stand out in a crowded field by being sensitive, thought-provoking and entertaining at the same time. The film is also impressive visually - and there's not a ray gun-wielding creature in sight.

Movies about first contact between earthlings and aliens have been tackled in one way or another by sci-fi classics such as The War of the Worlds (1953), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Like the best of them, Arrival succeeds in engaging audiences, then keeping them guessing till the very end.

The film, written Eric Heisserer and based on a short story by Ted Chiang, begins with the birth, and then the death, of a daughter whose mother Dr Louise Banks (Amy Adams) speaks to her in voice-over. "There are days that define your story beyond your life - like the day 'they' arrived."