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Spoiler thread for Arrival | We have Contact again
- Thread starter shira
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I actually really liked that about the film. Language's structure and constraints determine how we think and converse with others. It can also affect how we perceive things. If anything, it is one of the, IMO, frankly more realistic premises that I've seen in a sci-fi for a while I'd say.
Tricky I Shadow
Banned
Definitely an overrated movie.
I mean it was okay, I guess. The twist just left me feeling like "that was it?" I swear, 999 has ruined plot twists for me! Overall, I felt like the movie was wasted potential.
6.5/10
I mean it was okay, I guess. The twist just left me feeling like "that was it?" I swear, 999 has ruined plot twists for me! Overall, I felt like the movie was wasted potential.
6.5/10
9/10 film for me, did me wonders
Good interview on the sound of the movie
http://www.asoundeffect.com/arrival-sound/
Good interview on the sound of the movie
http://www.asoundeffect.com/arrival-sound/
Overall, really liked it. Thematically interesting. Good performances. Interesting premise.
Some things I didn't care for:
- Unclear plotting. I know this was intentional, but it's really hard suspend disbelief that a Chinese general would drop everything after some random woman called him up. Why did the aliens come? Just to give Louise the language? That's never explained. Neither are huge 12 "pieces". If they are keys to understating the language as a whole, didn't they give all that to Louise already? The whole international intrigue bit makes little sense.
- Over explained finale. We get it. Ian is the dad. The movie could've ended 5 minutes sooner, and probably on a more powerful note,too.
-Some slower pacing in the beginning, but interesting enough to keep me interested.
-Lots of jumping around for sake of expediency. Never focused on the charcters problem solving, just the reaction to be results. Which I get, but it loses some impact when revelations happen.
-The whole premise of language affecting our perception of time is a throwaway revelation for the sake of the plot. This very interesting idea could've been explained or expanded on more. The way it was presented was as if the viewer should just take it as face value, even though it makes literally no sense offhand.
I really liked it overall, though. I thought the themes and questions raised were very interesting and the narrative structure overall was commendable, looping back on itself. I also really liked the sybollic nature of everything.
I guess my gripes from the fact that it seems like portions of the film were edited to more appease general audiences (over explanation, international doomsday plot altogether, etc). Overall, though, great film.
Edit: Free will does not exist in this film, no matter what the screenwriter says. It's impossible to see into your determined future if it can change. How would Louise get the general's phone number if she had the ability to choose not to call him? She couldn't. The only way this paradox works is if everything is set.
Double Edit: I figured out a way to explain my thoughts. In the end, it trades philosophy and symbolism for emotion and gravitas. I think this works for a lot of people, but I miss the questions. SF has always been about that for me. And good SF can be emotional and philosophical, but it seems like Arrival can only handle one at a time, albeit well.
Some things I didn't care for:
- Unclear plotting. I know this was intentional, but it's really hard suspend disbelief that a Chinese general would drop everything after some random woman called him up. Why did the aliens come? Just to give Louise the language? That's never explained. Neither are huge 12 "pieces". If they are keys to understating the language as a whole, didn't they give all that to Louise already? The whole international intrigue bit makes little sense.
- Over explained finale. We get it. Ian is the dad. The movie could've ended 5 minutes sooner, and probably on a more powerful note,too.
-Some slower pacing in the beginning, but interesting enough to keep me interested.
-Lots of jumping around for sake of expediency. Never focused on the charcters problem solving, just the reaction to be results. Which I get, but it loses some impact when revelations happen.
-The whole premise of language affecting our perception of time is a throwaway revelation for the sake of the plot. This very interesting idea could've been explained or expanded on more. The way it was presented was as if the viewer should just take it as face value, even though it makes literally no sense offhand.
I really liked it overall, though. I thought the themes and questions raised were very interesting and the narrative structure overall was commendable, looping back on itself. I also really liked the sybollic nature of everything.
I guess my gripes from the fact that it seems like portions of the film were edited to more appease general audiences (over explanation, international doomsday plot altogether, etc). Overall, though, great film.
Edit: Free will does not exist in this film, no matter what the screenwriter says. It's impossible to see into your determined future if it can change. How would Louise get the general's phone number if she had the ability to choose not to call him? She couldn't. The only way this paradox works is if everything is set.
Double Edit: I figured out a way to explain my thoughts. In the end, it trades philosophy and symbolism for emotion and gravitas. I think this works for a lot of people, but I miss the questions. SF has always been about that for me. And good SF can be emotional and philosophical, but it seems like Arrival can only handle one at a time, albeit well.
I found this film to be very similar to M. Night Shyamalan's Signs.
At it's heart, it's a family drama supplemented with philosophical inquisitiveness, all the while an alien sci-fi incident/event is playing out in the background. Also, I got really emotional when it occurred to me that she will give birth to the girl despite knowing the grim death that awaits the kid. That shit is heavy D:
The way they humanized Shang, and by extension the Chinese people, during that Unification Assembly by alluding to his dying wife...what a stroke of brilliance. I was getting worried they were gonna paint the Chinese as typical Communist/militaristic villain tropes, lol
An exceptional film, even more-so for me due to the similarities with Signs, another personal favourite of mine.
10/10.
At it's heart, it's a family drama supplemented with philosophical inquisitiveness, all the while an alien sci-fi incident/event is playing out in the background. Also, I got really emotional when it occurred to me that she will give birth to the girl despite knowing the grim death that awaits the kid. That shit is heavy D:
The way they humanized Shang, and by extension the Chinese people, during that Unification Assembly by alluding to his dying wife...what a stroke of brilliance. I was getting worried they were gonna paint the Chinese as typical Communist/militaristic villain tropes, lol
An exceptional film, even more-so for me due to the similarities with Signs, another personal favourite of mine.
10/10.
That is absolutely explained.
The aliens arrive to give the gift of language so humans can save them in 3000 years.
It was pretty simple.
Agreed.
I feel that marketing made it seem like a straight-forward Sci-fi thriller film, not some pseudo-philosophical drama with time-fuckery mixed in; similar thing happened with Signs and it influenced some peoples' expectations going in.
I think this is my main problem with the movie; they show a montage of Amy and Jeremy showing signs to the aliens and then a month passes by and they advanced tons
It's kinda explained very quickly near the end. Like I said the whole ending is rushed out the door so the big revelation can happen.
That's when the film falters, imo. It drops the sci-fi premise and goes full on emotional storytelling. Which works on some. But I keep wondering about all the loose ends.
I don't mind ambiguity. Hell, I relish it in films sometimes. Especially these kinds of films. But the difference is those films are celebrating their unknowns. Arrival just drops them and asks the audience to forgot about what doesn't make sense
AuthenticM
Member
Just got back from seeing it.
One of the best movies I have ever seen. Denis Villeneuve is a master of his art, and he is my favorite director.
Having seen most of his movies, it's funny how he makes better M. Night Shyamalan movies than that guy, lol.
One of the best movies I have ever seen. Denis Villeneuve is a master of his art, and he is my favorite director.
Having seen most of his movies, it's funny how he makes better M. Night Shyamalan movies than that guy, lol.
For the most part I loved it. However the ending seemed like it happened too fast, and as a result wasn't believable enough. I think they could have done a better job selling the brain re-wiring aspect so that it builds into something the audience can sense coming a little more.
Overall though enjoyed it a lot.
Overall though enjoyed it a lot.
Man, what a great movie. I don't get some of the criticism here about it being confusing, I thought it was all very well laid out and all the fantastical concepts were hinted at earlier to prepare the audience.
Also, comparing the film to Signs or Interstellar is doing a huge disservice to Arrival.
Also, comparing the film to Signs or Interstellar is doing a huge disservice to Arrival.
shira
Member
It's a tweener. It's not full arthouse; it's not full scifi blockbuster.
My guess is that you have a whole array of both audiences watching it after great reviews and hype.
It runs great on a 2nd viewing and check out the book if you want a much slower-fleshed out paced story.
Escape Goat
Member
Why?
Not Spaceghost
Spaceghost
I loved this so much, very different from what I walked in expecting to see. I think that it went a little too hard on the exposition and explanations but considering the way the movie was marketed as a much more mainstream movie than what it ended up feeling like I can't really blame them. I thought it was fairly straight forward but I can see how you can get tangled up if you miss out on a few things.
Honestly I think the movie being very slow and deliberate with things really built up the tension nicely despite its pace. The helplessness of the situations the characters find themselves in, the fact that the audience knows things not everyone else can know and people who want to act to do the right thing but can't really makes the whole thing super heavy. The huge emotional punch at the very end managed to actually feel like a really rewarding pay off.
Quite a beautifully shot movie, and the sound track while a little mopey and melancholic had some outstanding tunes in there, specifically the one that plays during the 25 day montage and the credits.
Honestly I think the movie being very slow and deliberate with things really built up the tension nicely despite its pace. The helplessness of the situations the characters find themselves in, the fact that the audience knows things not everyone else can know and people who want to act to do the right thing but can't really makes the whole thing super heavy. The huge emotional punch at the very end managed to actually feel like a really rewarding pay off.
Quite a beautifully shot movie, and the sound track while a little mopey and melancholic had some outstanding tunes in there, specifically the one that plays during the 25 day montage and the credits.
BlastProcessing
Member
The speed of the ending worked for me because that is how it would happen in that situation. Once she crossed the threshold where it was certain that she would one day know the language, she would instantly know it. Put another way, once time begins to lose meaning for her, there is no reason for things to go slow.
It was sort of like a little mini, human scale, Singularity. I really liked that aspect. As an audience member we are sort of reeling along with Louise as her mind expands.
Ether_Snake
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The aliens came and did what they did to unite humanity so that in 3000 years they could save Abbot. Why they did it exactly this way is because that was what was needed to be done to get the desired outcome far in the future, which they have foreseen.
Also language didn't give Louise her power alone. She wrote a book on "universal language" afterwards, and presumably people didn't start seeing the future. Her being given something particular to see the future seemed to be specific to prevent them from nuking the aliens, nothing more.
edit: Also for whatever reason this movie felt like some serious anime or manga. No idea why lol. Maybe because of its unusual structure and plot compared to usual Hollywood movies.
Nah, Signs is a better film. There, I said it.
I got neither of those first two points. MY interpretation was that Abbott was dying/killed from the explosion, and had nothing to do with their problem 3000 years later.
And Luoise got her power, because she was so immersed in the language, dreaming and thinking in it, she perceived time as anyone who thinks in the language would do. Not everyone will get this "power", because not everyone will actually think and immerse themselves in the language, presumably.
I don't believe that you said that. I must be seeing things.
uncelestial
Member
It was kinda garbage. The out-of-context flash-forwards to the death of a person who isn't even alive yet set to the kinda-sorta-pretty (in a basic, four-chord, Hallmark channel, pumpkin spice latte kinda way) Max Richter song from over a decade ago were just pure pap, I'm sorry. It was especially frustrating that they chose to keep the story confined to just the few main characters when it involved the entire planet -- forcing us to sit through their boring inner and future life. Contact at least had a great montage of humanity freaking the fuck out, Larry King and the President talking about it, cults forming, protests, religious pontification -- so much meatier. You never felt that the culture was absorbing the events transpiring -- it was all just shit happening out in a big egg in a random field.
Here was me and my friend Keith during the end:
Onscreen: You know, the surprising thing about all this wasn't meeting the aliens...
Me, to K: "It was meeting you."
Onscreen: It was meeting you.
Me: Uh-huh. (Makes gagging motion)
Also, lol @ this line:
Deeper thoughts are being scribbled by 13-year-olds into Moleskin notebooks they bought at Hot Topic.
Here was me and my friend Keith during the end:
Onscreen: You know, the surprising thing about all this wasn't meeting the aliens...
Me, to K: "It was meeting you."
Onscreen: It was meeting you.
Me: Uh-huh. (Makes gagging motion)
Also, lol @ this line:
Amy Adams said:
Deeper thoughts are being scribbled by 13-year-olds into Moleskin notebooks they bought at Hot Topic.
Arrival would have to be about 7 times better to be as good as Interstellar. It was neither acted, shot, conceived, scored, paced, or written as well as Interstellar. It's actually a huge disservice to Interstellar to be compared to Arrival. There weren't even flawed characters or a central conflict in Arrival, as there was in Interstellar. Think about that.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
The major surprise for me was that she didn't get to go back in time to meet her daughter again, which is what I thought was going to be the point of that time monologue at the start of the movie (obviously the twist being that it was the future she was seeing not the past in the flashbacks).
I thought it was strong all the way to the reveals, at which point it fell into the same trap that Interstellar did, in that it made everything super personal and explained the plot with a wibbly wobbly, timey wimey bootstrap paradox. Just stop doing that, guys. It didn't ruin the movie but it really soured the ending for me.
I thought it was strong all the way to the reveals, at which point it fell into the same trap that Interstellar did, in that it made everything super personal and explained the plot with a wibbly wobbly, timey wimey bootstrap paradox. Just stop doing that, guys. It didn't ruin the movie but it really soured the ending for me.
This was well acted and beautifully shot, but overall a very average movie. I cannot stand nonlinear time fiction. The whole concept is stupid to me. Time has an arrow and cause and effect are real.
This movie barely had a three act structure either. I'm still not exactly sure what was supposed to have been accomplished by Louise accepting a nonlinear view of her life. China doesnt shoot the ships and it brings about global unity between humans on earth I think? Dug the alien designs too.
This movie barely had a three act structure either. I'm still not exactly sure what was supposed to have been accomplished by Louise accepting a nonlinear view of her life. China doesnt shoot the ships and it brings about global unity between humans on earth I think? Dug the alien designs too.
It's not nonlinear though it still goes in a line. She's just remembering from both ends rather than one end.
It's just a loop with no beginning or ending. The heptapods teach humans the language because in 3000 years the humans have to know the language to teach it to the heptapods. It's a chicken and egg situation where nobody really ever invented the language, and it was just taught to each species by the other one.
Zoe
Member
Don't think it works like that. It's not time travel. The heptapods of the past wouldn't be able to learn the language retroactively. You only gain the ability from the point you're immersed.
ronaldthump
Member
Im specifically talking about the terrible scene where she sees herself talking to the general (at a party celebrating her work on the language". Whether or not time is lineal with this language, this scene can never happen.
a) he goes "THIS IS MY PRIVATE NUMBER" and shows her the phone nudge nudge wink wink
cut cut more film action and then
b) you then need to call em and say "WHAT MY DEAD WIFE TELLS ME SO I WILL BELIEVE YOU" nudge nudge wink wink
whether or not time is lineal, what happens here is a paradox because its a chicken/egg situation and in no way would reality ever have them meeting up; there would have been no celebration of her working out the language as china would have started the war. It's also fucking poor executed and just lazy plotting.
With regards to her child; sure. its duh beautiful how she chose to have the child anyhow despite knowing the futtturreee and how its gonna be sick and die.. but.
the paradox with the general is not timeline that could ever happen, so the movie took a convenient way out
add
plotline with jeremy renner as the dad was so obvious once she said "your dad is a scientist" so when they showed him, we were both like "urgh, so ...."
and dialogue about "meeting you" is also pretty terrrible.
I have a question. Was the Chinese general the one who made contact with the alien ship in China via mahjong? It's like only him and Louise were able to have a relationship of sorts with the aliens.
The Chinese general didn't quite understand all the rules of this new language but he did know about the importance of giving her the information at some point.
The Chinese general didn't quite understand all the rules of this new language but he did know about the importance of giving her the information at some point.
ronaldthump
Member
He had no relationship. In the movie he was going to blow them up. The plot needed an out to resolve its plot so that ballroom scene conveniently happened for Amy Adams.
Long time ago, during an assembly language class, I started having dreams in assembly. It was freaky. I remember understanding the dreams but not being able to explain them. I decided that was too much immersion, and didn't continue that course track, even though I was one of the top people in the class.
Wandering Robot
Member
I loved it.
The scene when she first sees the aliens, I must agree, was so so well-delivered. The noises, the atmosphere, Amy Adams' acting, the smoke...it really hit me. That and the conception + design of the heptapods' language--just one of the many finely-done things in this movie.
The scene when she first sees the aliens, I must agree, was so so well-delivered. The noises, the atmosphere, Amy Adams' acting, the smoke...it really hit me. That and the conception + design of the heptapods' language--just one of the many finely-done things in this movie.
Spaced Harrier
Member
Yeah me too, I was discussing this with my girl, I'm wondering if it left me not as enamoured with it as I would have been if I had seen it with her or my friends.
I've seen movies alone at home and loved them, everyone of my favorites now I think about it. But in the cinema it was different. I did feel the lack of company. Well at least the screen was busy.
I saw it at an Omniplex brand cinemaxxx screen. First time and it was quite strange.
It's quite large and the seats are pretty dope, roomy leather affairs.
But the screen itself appears to be 16:9
The movie was obviously in whatever standard aspect ratio for film, apart from Avengers I can't think of any film in 16:9...
So when the film started I notice that rather than top and bottom letter boxing they have just a bottom black bar and projected the film higher on the screen so it filled the area to the top.
Quite strange took me a while to get used to it.
ok, so this movie made me think of Slaughter House 5 (and yeah Contact) but a lot of SH5 and there aliens and Billy Pilgrim being unstuck in time.
I know a lot of modern linguist hate Sapir Whorf theory, but I think it still has merits.
Good article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html
I know a lot of modern linguist hate Sapir Whorf theory, but I think it still has merits.
Good article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
If remembering future events can influence the past (e.g. the entire Amy Adams with the Chinese General scenario) then it's time travel. Whether Amy physically time travels or just remembers the future is irrelevant, the entire scenario was a bootstrap paradox. If in the past, Amy hadn't told the General that stuff, the ballroom never happened. But she only told him that stuff in the past because the Ballroom happened. Thus, it is an event where the effect was it's own cause.
The heptapod scenario is ambiguous. I do not believe the heptapods learned the language from humans, rather, I think that they were helped in 3000 years by the humans. However if they were only visiting Earth because they remember humans helping them 3000 years in the future, and in the future they are only helped by us because we helped them, then that is another paradox.
Closed loops are always like this. They exist for no reason and cannot be adequately explained except by merely stating that they exist.
There is a hard and a soft version, this movie and the novel it's based on takes the hard version to the extreme, where the only reason you exist in linear time is because of your language. Extremely silly but I'll go with it for the premise of your movie.
I finally saw it today. Maybe 5/10 for me. I really liked The Martian but despite being a fan of scifi, several recent movies have irritated me.
Good:
* Mysterious aliens landing
* Languages and language translation stuff is neat
* The story is occasionally interesting and the tension can be pretty gripping.
Bad:
* The movie is super slow with strange audio/music choices that move past "slow burn" and into "pretentious" territory for me. The camera is now upside down! *sound goes BRAWWWWWW*
* The story kind of goes off the rails 75% through (the Pocahontas moment where she can outright talk English and read the language on the fly felt pretty rushed to me), with a kind of selfish ending.
* Some elements that annoyed me in other movies (Elysium, Gravity, Interstellar) are here as well, but they're not AS bad here. The little girl talking for emotional sympathy isn't AS bad as the emotional hammer attempts of Elysium. The female lead is portrayed as panicky and flawed compared to similar male characters, but at least she doesn't have to strip down to her underwear like Gravity.
In particular, unless I'm missing something, she basically chooses to go along with the "Let's make a baby" line KNOWING that she's condemning a girl to grow up and die of cancer as a teenager? I know it's painful for the mother too, but even if she doesn't know in advance that Hawkeye will abandon the family, wouldn't it be better for the girl never to be born than be born and die of cancer that young? It's like saying "Well I want to get the joy out of knowing you."
I suppose you could go full on predestination and say that everything foreseen must be acted out the way it's foreseen or else you go into a parallel future where the aliens don't happen etc.
Good:
* Mysterious aliens landing
* Languages and language translation stuff is neat
* The story is occasionally interesting and the tension can be pretty gripping.
Bad:
* The movie is super slow with strange audio/music choices that move past "slow burn" and into "pretentious" territory for me. The camera is now upside down! *sound goes BRAWWWWWW*
* The story kind of goes off the rails 75% through (the Pocahontas moment where she can outright talk English and read the language on the fly felt pretty rushed to me), with a kind of selfish ending.
* Some elements that annoyed me in other movies (Elysium, Gravity, Interstellar) are here as well, but they're not AS bad here. The little girl talking for emotional sympathy isn't AS bad as the emotional hammer attempts of Elysium. The female lead is portrayed as panicky and flawed compared to similar male characters, but at least she doesn't have to strip down to her underwear like Gravity.
In particular, unless I'm missing something, she basically chooses to go along with the "Let's make a baby" line KNOWING that she's condemning a girl to grow up and die of cancer as a teenager? I know it's painful for the mother too, but even if she doesn't know in advance that Hawkeye will abandon the family, wouldn't it be better for the girl never to be born than be born and die of cancer that young? It's like saying "Well I want to get the joy out of knowing you."
I suppose you could go full on predestination and say that everything foreseen must be acted out the way it's foreseen or else you go into a parallel future where the aliens don't happen etc.
UnemployedVillain
Member
Yeah, you're not going to get it
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
Explain how it's not a time paradox.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
As a fan of the original story I liked this a lot, and think it was about as good of an adaption of that material as you're going to get. I do think there was one actual creative mistake though: as cool as the "squid ink" was from a visual perspective, its a huge misstep to not have the language be something she can draw on her own. In the original story its something she can theoretically draw on paper herself, and having it be the same way in the film would have allowed for one or two scenes that show how obsessively she's immersing herself in the language by scrawling it out trying to understand it for days and weeks.
Instead she just taps a few icons on a tablet screen and we don't quite get the same effect of how far down the rabbit hole she's gone to the point that its warping how she perceives the world
Instead she just taps a few icons on a tablet screen and we don't quite get the same effect of how far down the rabbit hole she's gone to the point that its warping how she perceives the world
BlackNMild2k1
Member
I guess I'm not gonna get it either, because that scene with the Chinese General guy didn't make sense.
It does not make sense that you can do something in the past to create a situation in the future (the meeting), but it's the situation in the future where you are told that it was what you did in the past that caused the meeting. And you were not even given the info you used in the past to cause the meeting until it was given to you at the meeting in the future so that you could go back to the present(past) and use it to as a reason to cause the meeting(in the future) at which you were given the info you used to get the meeting.
I simply can't wrap my brain around how that makes sense.
ronaldthump
Member
yeah, explain how it's not a time paradox.
It basically doesn't make sense and is a total plot contrivance - its alternate reality business. which then throws out the whole movie's time centric storyline.
Well it's a FUN time paradox at least. I think it's a lot like the one in Interstellar.
I think that the theory driving these worlds is that all time was created all at once and all time co-exists always (and never changes). We may not have the means to travel through time like we do space, but when you are given the means to - like these characters are - it makes the possibilities a little more fun!
I think that the theory driving these worlds is that all time was created all at once and all time co-exists always (and never changes). We may not have the means to travel through time like we do space, but when you are given the means to - like these characters are - it makes the possibilities a little more fun!
When I saw the film, I took it as the Chinese general told Amy Adams the info she needed because the general knows he had to.
So perhaps in our thinking it is a paradox. But cause and effect are occurring non linearly. But that hardly makes the film imperfect.
BlastProcessing
Member
In the movie, the metaphor that they use to describe the Heptapod language is writing a sentence from both ends simultaneously. Louise's story with the General is a sentence that both of them are writing from both ends at the same time. I don't think it's hard to assume that the General also eventually figures out the Heptapod language as well. So both of them can build an entire relationship in an instant.
Remember, when she tells him his wife's dying words, we can't assume that his wife died in the linear past. Just like we can't assume Louise's child died in the linear past.
You're not really missing anything. Ian agrees with you. It's why he left. I don't think it's supposed to be full on predestination considering that Ian mentions that it was a choice. And going by the comments in this thread, that seems to be the intention of the film makers. Although I don't understand how choosing something that contradicts what you're foreseeing would work. Ultimately though I don't think the story is primarily concerned with how the system works but rather its emotional payoff.
UnemployedVillain
Member
Well the way I see it is that a paradox is a violation of causality, which is a concept we use because we view time linearly and as in moving in a single direction. Because the heptapod language allows time to be viewed circularly, causality is no longer a a vector, a directed line from cause to effect, it's a circle where causes can have effects which can lead to causes.
So in essence explaining that conversation with the general (again, this is my interpretation):
She stopped the war because she called the general and told him about his wife's dying words. Because she stopped the war they were able to have that party in the future where he gave her his number. Because he gave her his number she was able to call him to stop the war.
And if we think of it as a circle each of those actions has a distinct cause and effect. It's just that sometimes, time wise, the effect occurs before the cause.
As for why the general knew he had to give her those details despite not knowing why? It seems like in the future she's published a book on the heptapod language so it's possible he learned a little and saw that he had to tell her those things at that exact point in time.
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