Denis VilleneuveCast
Amy Adams 
Jeremy Renner 
Forest Whitaker
Credits
Written by: Eric Heisserer
Plot
When twelve alien ships land at various points on Earth, the linguist Louise Banks is recruited by the army to communicate with the aliens. As she works with a physicist, Ian Donnelly, to decode their language, the world sits on the brink of conflict, and she begins to see time differently. Denis Villeneuve's 2016 film, with Amy Adams, is a thoughtful science-fiction drama, and won an Oscar for sound editing.
Sinekatalog’s take
Villeneuve's alien-contact drama puts a linguist at the centre. Quiet, cerebral and moving, it treats language as the key to understanding time, and the final revelation lands with real emotion.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.
Ratings
IMDb: 7.9 / 10 (882,921 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.
If you liked this
Picked by director, genre, era and shared cast. Titles only, no spoilers.
- Contact 1997 · Robert Zemeckis · IMDb 7.5 · Viewers also liked
- A.I. Artificial Intelligence 2001 · Steven Spielberg · IMDb 7.2 · Viewers also liked
- Solaris (2002) 2002 · Steven Soderbergh · IMDb 6.2 · Viewers also liked
- Interstellar 2014 · Christopher Nolan · IMDb 8.7 · Viewers also liked
- Blade Runner 2049 2017 · Denis Villeneuve · IMDb 8.0 · Same director
- Prisoners 2013 · Denis Villeneuve · IMDb 8.2 · Same director