#POLISH PREMIERE | horribly funny | very black comedy | irony | thriller | marriage | relationship crisis | arguments | jesus maria | nightmare | newborn | shock | tension | thick atmosphere | hysteria | twist

THE COFFEE TABLE

thriller | black comedy | Spain | 2022
World premiere: Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2022
Polish premiere: Splat!FilmFest

AS BLACK AS NIGHT, SHOCKING COMEDY

Jesus and Maria (choice of names isn’t accidental) are a middle-aged couple who’s just welcomed their newborn son into the world. They experience a crisis in their relationship: she claims that she has to do everything by herself, including taking every decision, whereas he is laid-back and doesn’t worry too much. That’s why he buys a coffee table from a rather slippery merchant as a symbol of his decision making. This cheesy piece of furniture makes the situation even worse. It turns out that the seller was right: it will change Jesus and Maria’s life. But it will be an unwelcomed change. It’s hard to describe a movie like „The coffee table”, because the plot of this Spanish black comedy with elements of horror is based on a shocking plot twist. Such a twist that you’ll feel like you got fooled on the one hand, but on the other hand: you will be thrilled.

When a bomb in a form of a plot twist explodes right into the viewers’ faces, „The coffee table” becomes a really tense movie that you can’t watch without a tight stomach. But it will also be a funny one, because it uses patterns known from horror movies to tell an ironic story about relationships, midlife crisis, fatherhood, motherhood and a suburban need to tell stories to those, who’d like to think that everything is fine.

„The coffee table”, with its dominant brown tones, waves between genres. The majority of scenes take place in Jesus and Maria’s apartment, which sometimes looks like an apartment taken from „Rosemary’s Baby” than an apartment of a tired with life couple, who proudly represent the middle class.

The director of this masterpiece is Caye Casas, known e.g. from „Matar a Dios”. You can see an amazing David Pareja as Jesus, who can be seen on the screen experiencing a wide range of emotions: from hysteria, through guilt to desperation. Polish fans may recognize him from a thriller with a pinch of a black comedy „Amigo”.

director: Caye Casas
screenwriters: Caye Casas, Cristina Borobia
cast: David Pareja, Estefanía de los Santos
photography: Alberto Morago
music: Bambikina
editor: Caye Casas
language: Spanish
subtitles: Polish, English
duration: 1h 32min
recommended age: 16+