the arrival

The arrival  

Daniel Montanarini directed the experimental short film The Arrival in 2016. We are focused on a single woman, and the plot revolves around everything that goes through her mind as she describes her thoughts to us. We find out that while waiting for the man who would become the father in a café, the woman is unsure about whether to keep the baby she is carrying.

She has to make a decision before the person she is meeting arrives, so the mise-en-scene is skillfully used to show that her time is running out. The tension is increased by the slow tracking towards her and the background clock, which symbolises her time running out. Diegetic sound of the coffee shop and surrounding area adds to the realism of this scene.

She begins to deteriorate as the time runs out. She overpours milk into her coffee, demonstrating how this choice is interfering with her ability to concentrate on anything. Her performance towards the end of the sequence conveys her fear of meeting this person and telling them she is pregnant.