chinese   ireland   usa   china   based on novel   marriage   dancing   beach   1950s   new york city   italian american   flashback   dancer   girl   father daughter relationship   department store   alien   journey   ufo   helicopter   memory   anguish   catholic   alien contact   female protagonist   space   spaghetti   wine   computer   military officer   colonel   u.s. soldier   best friend   immigrant   self deception   irish accent   seasickness   travel   language barrier   working class   europe   extraterrestrial   twenty something   reminiscence   escalation   based on short story   title at the end   melodrama   death of sister   irish   secret marriage   boarding house   contamination   disease   heartbreak   militarism   physicist   swimsuit   community   hazmat suit   seeing the future   plumber   family tragedy   absent father   homesickness   dual lives   linguist   montana   female flatulence   female scientist   location in title   baby girl   first contact   kid art   low gravity   bird in a cage   first person narration   long island   begins with narration   eating spaghetti   ellis island   female in swimsuit   filial duty   irish immigrant   reference to the zombie apocalypse   torn between two men   torn between two worlds   bigger dreams   breaking news   chinese army officer   cowgirl costume   decontamination   foresight   international relations   linguistics   military aggression   news channel   palindrome   reference to abbott and costello   reference to the united nations   reference to the university of california at berkeley   sanskrit   theoretical physicist   love triangle   death   coney island brooklyn new york city   brooklyn new york city   flash forward   one word title   nonlinear timeline   voice over narration   husband wife relationship   montage   tragic event   voice over   sister sister relationship   title spoken by character   voice over letter   letter   vomiting   death of daughter   spacecraft   ship   sadness   mother daughter relationship   priest   no opening credits   threat   loss of sister   wedding