REVIEW: THE COFFEE TABLE AKA LA MESITA DEL COMEDOR
by Elena Romea (*)
THE COFFEE TABLE (2022) is a movie directed by Caye Casas (MATAR A DIOS) and written together with Cristina Borobia (MATAR A DIOS, RIP). It was made in 2022 but it has become successful this year thanks to a tour of film fests and greeting words from Stephen King and Mick Garris who are confessed fans of the feature.
The film was presented in the ‘Rebels with a Cause’ slate of the 2022 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) and also made it to the 2023 Fantaspoa for its Latin-American premiere, and to the 2023 Fantastic Fest lineup for its North American. MGM Premium and Cinephobia Releasing boarded rights to the film in the USA and in Spain, it can be watched on the VOD platform Filmin.
It won Best Film award at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in 2022 and Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival in 2023.
This is a black comedy starring David Pareja (AMIGO) and Estefanía de los Santos (QUE DIOS NOS PERDONE) that tells a story that reminds us of Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart. It all starts when María (de los Santos) and Jesús Casas (Pareja) visit a furniture store with their newborn baby Cayetanín wanting to buy a coffee table for their just inherited house. The salesman, also named Cayetano, offers them an expensive but supposedly high-quality coffee table which María refuses to buy, claiming that Cayetano’s promise of unbreakable glass is false, and leaves with the baby. Jesús is convinced by the salesman to buy the table. As Jesús builds the coffee table in their apartment notices a screw is missing from the table and calls Cayetano to ask for another screw; in the meantime, he places the glass pane right-side-up. María leaves to get groceries in preparation for the visit of Jesús’ brother Carlos and his wife Christina, leaving Jesús alone with the baby. Jesús tries to get him to stop crying and in the process, he accidentally falls onto the glass pane which, despite Cayetano’s promise, breaks, and decapitates the baby.
From here the story of hiding what has happened begins. Jesús fights against his remorse and grief to disguise the actual events. One of my favorite parts is when María, unaware of what has really happened makes fun of Jesús and the unbreakable glass. More is about to come and Jesús goes under a series of episodes in which hiding everything will become more and more complicated. Also, the baby’s head, as the heart in Poe’s tale, is pumping under the armchair to torture Jesús.
Anguish, disgust, and thrill are secured as watching the film, including anxiety and condescension as we know what’s going on, something all but one don’t. A brutal bittersweet comedy which I enjoyed a lot where the sickening part is suggested and not shown…. but understood and shocking.
The film was made in 10 days and in one location, a low-budget feature that some filmmakers spending lots of money on their works should watch to learn how to create a great movie with low resources. Sometimes millions are not needed but just talent and creativeness.
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Elena Romea is the woman in charge of SPANISHFEAR.COM, Horror Rises from Spain and Un Fan de Paul Naschy . A literature and cinema researcher, Ph.D. in Spanish studies with a thesis about the mystic filmmaker José Val del Omar. She has published in different media and books such as Fangoria and Hidden Horror. She has also been in charge of several translations including Javier Trujillo’s complete works, La Mano Film Fest, The Man who Saw Frankenstein Cry, and many more.
