The Arrival (2016)

 The Arrival is about a woman (Anna) considering whether or not to keep her pregnancy while she waits for the father in a cafe.

The film has 3 main parts to it, when she arrives and sits down at the coffee shop, when she thinks that the man might want to keep the baby, and when she decides she might keep the baby. 

The film utilises microelements to push the story along, incorporating mise-en-scene to show her train of thought. The lighting at the beginning is very naturalistic - her face is half-lit by the window, symbolising the mental conflict she is experiencing.

The sound is both diegetic and non-diegetic. Anna's inner monologue is presented to us through a voiceover on top of the diegetic sound of the cafe. There is also a sense of cause and effect through sound and Anna's thoughts. For example, when Anna hears a baby cry, she loses focus on the fact she is pouring coffee and we can see in her performance that she is losing confidence in her choice not to keep the baby. This is also another use of mise-en-scene - the coffee overflowing is a symbol of her thoughts overflowing.

The performance is nuanced, she shows us through facial expressions each thought she is having alongside the voiceover.

Another point about lighting is how it is much warmer towards the end - this is because she has had a change of heart and is no longer in a state of worry but now curiosity about what her future child could be like.

Cinematography is pretty simple yet effective, she is always in the centre, and the camera slowly dollys into her as the film goes on. This happens when the door opens and closes, so it feels as though we have just walked in and we are slowly approaching her, observing her make this big decision.