Ben Apfelbaum

THE ARRIVAL

Actress Amy Adams is having a bumper year with two films coming out in December/January  where she has the principal role –  Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival and Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals.   

Twelve mysterious monoliths land in twelve different locations around the world emitting strange sounds. Are they friend or foe?

Referencing Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Amy Adams as linguist Louise Banks and Jeremy Renner as scientist Ian Donnelly are recruited by Forrest Whittaker  as Colonel Weber to decipher  the intention of the octopus like heptapods who inhabit the monolith which has landed in Wyoming.

Mourning the death of a beloved teenage daughter Amy Adams expressive face can convey in an instant sadness, curiosity, and then wonderment as she seeks to translate the aliens’ language.

This is a fascinating analysis of how language shapes our personalities and our view of the world.

Like many excellent science fiction stories it has a terrific twist towards the end of the film which has you replaying the film in your mind for many days thereafter.

Unlike many of the high voltage fantasy, sci-fi and action movies this is a quiet, contemplative film which makes it all the more compelling.

On the basis of his handling of this film Denis Villeneuve will be directing the sequel to Blade Runner, which will again star Harrison Ford.  

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.