Coffee table was directed and co-written by Caye Casas and stars David Pareja, Estefanía de los Santos, Josep Riera, Claudia Riera and Eduardo Antuña. In the film, Jesús and María are juvenile parents going through a arduous time, and when we meet them, they are in a store arguing about whether to buy the titular coffee table. María hates it, but despite his wife’s protests, Jesús buys it anyway. And it ends up being the worst decision he has ever made.
Some time later, María goes shopping and leaves her husband alone with their newborn son. It seems like nothing substantial, but the story soon takes an unexpectedly gloomy turn. Jesús crashes into a up-to-date table, carrying a baby, and the needy kid is decapitated. Jesús is completely shocked by the accident, but decides to hide the truth from his wife. He cleans up the mess and tells María that the baby is just sleeping, and when his brother and the guy’s up-to-date girlfriend come to meet the baby, Jesús does his best to not let his gloomy secret spoil the occasion.
On paper, this plot outline may seem a bit like Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Ropebut for my money, Coffee table draws inspiration from another, much newer film –Hereditary. More specifically, it closely resembles the harrowing scene where Charlie is beheaded and her brother simply leaves her headless body in the car for their mother to find.
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Photo courtesy of Cinephobia ReleasingYou could even say Coffee table it’s just that sequence stretched out over the entire film. Admittedly, it doesn’t quite reach the torturous heights of Ari Aster’s haunting debut, but it makes up for it in lighter tone, forcing you to sit with Jesus’ awful secret for much, much longer.
Now part of what makes this sequence Hereditary so effective is the great role of Alex Wolff as Charlie’s brother, and Coffee table is built on an equally excellent performance. David Pareja is incredible as Jesus, and absolutely captures the trauma this guy experiences after the death of his newborn son. He looks like he’s about to pale the entire time, so everything he does and says, even his facial expressions, convey a palpable sense of unbearable pain.
Still, Pareja doesn’t carry this film alone. Coffee table can’t really work without his co-stars carrying their weight, and thankfully the rest of the cast is 100% up to the task. They’re completely believable as Jesús’ blissfully unaware wife, brother, and not-so-sister-in-law, so they’re the perfect foil for this tortured father. Their utter euphoria at the child’s mere existence would be contagious if you didn’t know he was dead, and that joy makes Jesús’s secret heartache all the more apparent.
This animated is the heart and soul of the entire film, and it’s devastatingly effective. The uncomfortable tension will have you squirming in your seat from the moment the child dies, and the story will stay with you long after the credits have rolled. It’s almost a traumatic experience in itself, so if that doesn’t sound like something you’d enjoy, practice some self-care and give Coffee table transition.
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Photo courtesy of Cinephobia ReleasingTo be fair, there’s more to this movie than just that awful tension. For example, even though we don’t see Jesus fall, the aftermath of the accident is pretty bloody. The baby’s blood is sprayed everywhere, and Jesus himself also gets a nasty injury. He gets a glass in his hand, and when he pulls it out, the camera forces us to watch him do it. It’s pretty intense, and the effects in this scene are completely convincing.
On top of that, Coffee table is also a witty black comedy. For the first twenty minutes or so, the humor comes mostly from the banter between Jesus and Mary, and I found myself laughing out noisy at least once every minute or two. However, after the tragic accident, the jokes take on a much darker tone and exploit the characters’ ignorance about the death of their child.
To take just one example: there is a scene where María laughs at her husband for breaking the table so quickly, and wishes she could see his face when it happened. Of course, if she knew the truth, she wouldn’t say anything like that, but this gloomy irony is what makes this gag so witty.
It’s the kind of humor where you can’t aid but laugh, even though part of you isn’t entirely sure if you should, so it only adds to the uncomfortable tension. It helps Coffee table a truly relentless emotional assault, so as I said before, if that’s not your cup of tea, you should stay as far away from it as possible. But if you like this type of horror, you’ll love it. It truly is “one of the most brutal films ever made,” and for those of you brave enough to watch it, it’s an experience you won’t soon forget.
Coffee table is set to begin a constrained theatrical run in Los Angeles on April 19, followed by other cities including Up-to-date York, Austin, and Chicago. It will then arrive on VOD and DVD on May 14.
