One of the most anticipated films coming out this fall, in November, is the sci-fi thriller “Arrival” which is considered to be a serious Oscar contender this year.

Directed by French/Canadian director Denis Villeneuve (“Prisoners” one of my absolute favorite films of the past decade, and “Sicario”- another really good one as well), “Arrival” deals with a team of scientists joined by Amy Adams (How I wish a black actress was in the lead) who are picked to investigate an invasion of alien spacecraft in various places around the world.

Though the aliens come in peace in the hopes of giving humans a new language to communicate with, the paranoid right-wing media and some world governments go nuts over their arrival, resulting in panic, leading to the threat of war.

Along with Adams, one of the the major characters in the film is played by Forest Whitaker, who is part of the research team. I don’t think he gets killed off in the film, or sacrifices his life for his fellow team members… but you never know…

The film premiered this week at the Venice Film Festival to rave reviews; but another interesting aspect about “Arrival” is that the film was photographed by the great African American cinematographer Bradford Young, whose work you’ve seen in other films such as “Selma”, “Pariah”, “Mother of George” and “A Most Violent Year”.

And as you can see from the trailer below, it is a sumptuously photographed film.