10 Great Sci-Fi Movies For People Who Don't Like Sci-Fi

Canadian director Denis Villeneuve has made great films in most genres, but he has a special affinity for sci fi. His Blade Runner sequel was far better than expected, and his forthcoming Dune looks promising.

Those are pretty heavy on the traditional sci fi tropes, though - more interesting is 2016’s Arrival, in which alien spacecrafts hover over Earth for reasons unknown. It’s eventually ascertained that the life forms are attempting to communicate with humanity, and so the government brings in a linguist to decipher their wordless transmissions.

It’s a film about connection - Amy Adams stars as Louise Banks, a brittle, secluded woman following past tragedies, who finds herself singularly able to “speak” to this unimaginable force from parts unknown.

Arrival begins with a focus on the procedure, aiming to depict as realistically as possible what might happen were we to make contact, but a tender and ultimately heartbreaking human story slowly develops, leading to a gut punch of an ending. It’s rare to see a film simultaneously so smart and soleful, a perfect amalgamation of thought and feeling.