The Coffee Table (aka La Mesita Del Comedor) is an early 2020s film, which blends dark-as-night humour, domestic drama, and visceral horror in a highly troubling and at points very comfortable/tension-inducing manner. The Spanish film focuses on, as its title suggests, a simple Coffee Table- building its disturbing, and later soul-numbing, unfold from its purchase. Here from Second Sight Films- as either a Ltd boxset release, or a stand-alone Blu Ray release- is a release of the film, both versions take in a new commentary track & other new extras. With the box set adding: a one-hundred-and-twenty-page book, art cards, and a rigid slip case.

The Coffee Table is from 2022- it was directed/co-written by Terrassa, Spain-born Caye Casas.  He has eight other credits to his name-  one other feature, Killing God (2017), a dark comedy regarding a visit from God. And six shorts/ one segment horror/ comedy anthology, Asylum: Twisted Horror and Fantasy Tales (2020).

I know it’s a well worn cliché/ easy way out of getting out of reviewing a film- but The Coffee Table, truly is a prime & prefect example of the less you know about it the better, so it’s a very tricky fish to critique with out giving away at least some elements of the plot/ what unfolds, but I’ll try my best as to not spoil what unfolds, and the film's deeply shocking/ mouth a gap resolve.

The film focuses on a life-worn middle-aged couple- bearded & long-haired Jesús(David Pareja) and the stern/ cutting María (Estefanía de los Santos). The pair have just had their first baby, and when we first meet them both, they are in a furniture shop-  getting a pressured sale from balding & bad-suited salesmen. The object of the sale is a glass-topped coffee table, which features two gold-effect female figures underneath-  Jesús is quite keen to buy it, while María is less so, often bashing down the claims of the salesmen.

In the end, Jesús decides to buy the table as María walks off- we then see him lugging it up many flights of stairs- getting it into their apartment, and starting to put it together- as María goes to the supermarket to pick up food & drink for Jesús older brother Carlos( Josep Maria Riera) and his eighteen year old girlfriend Cristina(Claudia Riera)….and here I’ll cut off my plot detailing.

What unfolds over the film's one hour and twenty-nine minutes shifts from being a domestic drama & dark comedy with awkward edges, onto a harrowing & tension-ratcheting up real-life horror film.

 
All of the small cast are excellent, but Pareja is the most impressive, shifting from a weary everyman/ getting used to it new dad, to a sweaty and broken mess. Also worth a mention are Eduardo Antuña as the overly pushy/ breaking personal space salesman, and Gala Flores, who plays the couple's pre-teen neighbour, who may/ may not have something on Jesús.

I’d heard of The Coffee Table, as in the last year or so, it’s had a fair bit of buzz and praise about it. One is always a little suspicious/ ready to be disappointed when such films appear, but I can largely say it was an impactful, and at points very shocking ride. I guess there could be an argument that it might have worked better as a short of say half an hour, but then you wouldn’t have the piling on tension/awkwardness of the whole thing, and it wouldn’t have been so devastating when the credits roll.

Moving on to this new Blu-ray, and it’s a region B disc. We get a good selection of all-new extras on the disc. First off, we get a commentary track from genre experts/ extreme film lovers Zoë Rose Smith and Amber T- This is a rather chatty affair, which is peppered with both personal opinion/ observation and facts about the film/ production, though it largely focuses on the former.  They begin by declaring that the film was the most shocking film of 2022, and they don’t know anyone who wasn’t affected by it.  They debate whether the film is a dark comedy or not, and talk about how it plays as a Greek tragedy.  They talk about how the purchase of the table gave back some sort of control to  Jesús' life, after the birth of the baby. They chat about how the title added an air of mystery to the whole thing. They discuss the red herring characters in the film and the way seeds are planted early on in the picture. Later on, they talk about how Caye Casas has made a concise and captivating film, with a punchy script.  They discuss the different levels of impact/response the film has had around the world, and debate whether we have more of a penchant for dark comedy in the UK.  We find out Caye Casas wanted to make a politically incorrect film, the film's juxtaposition between horror/ fear, and a few other things. This is a fine one-play track, though I didn’t gain/ learn much.

Other extras on the disc include the following: What Scares Us the Most (  23.07) interview with director Caye Casas. A Sensory Journey (15.27) interview with actor David Pareja. We Are All Nuts (12.33) actor Estefanía de los Santos. Natural Oppression (11.33) interview with director of photography Alberto Morago. Postpartum( 19.33), which finds critic Rebecca Sayce discussing the film. So all in all, a good selection of extras. 

Otherwise, we get earlier short films from Casas. RIP ( 16.12)  a 2017 film that opens with a man( Josep Maria Riera from The Coffee Table) being pressured into what to wear/ how to look for an upcoming funeral by his controlling partner. This one again is a mix of very dark comedy and horror. Nothing C.O. ( 16.06) a 2014 film regarding a man who's been out of work for many years- he goes to an interview, and gets the job- he has to sit on a chair in the middle of a room for ten hours a day. This one is more surreal/ quirky.
 
In summing up, if you enjoy shocking/tension-building cinema, then you must check out The Coffee Table- as it’s such a distinctive creation, you won’t be forgetting in a hurry. It’s great to see the film getting the usual in-depth/definitive version of the film from Second Sight.