Dennis Hollingsworth

Cafe Camera

I attribute the excellence of Spanish art (I'm thinking of the design arts generally) to the rebound from the demise of the Franco era. It seems to be that there must have been a lot of work for designers of all types, for cinema and television, an efflorescence of media in the wake of a freedom speech thus newly released.

One of the supercool television shows here is new to us on our return to Spain: Cafe Camera. It is beautiful in its' simplicity: the presumption of a surviellance camera that has been installed in a typical office coffee machine.

A static and unblinking point of view filming in episodic manner, a wonderful stage for showcasing comic talent. Actors step up to drop a coin for a cup of coffee and the fish eye lens distorts their faces into a natural caricature. I barely understand what the actors are saying, but the timing and physical comedy is both outrageous and subtle. I can't think of a better way to utilize comedic acting talent at their strongest point.

Go ahead, my "industry" friends in Los Angeles, see if you can knock this off. Their language is naughty (lots os "Ostia" and "Joder" and "puta de madre"), so its perfect for HBO. It'll be hard to duplicate the inspired grace of those who mounted this production, but if you can, then such creative theft might be the best possible compliment for the creators of Cafe Camera, Magnolia Production, TeleCinco, Espa?a .

Maybe you could flip them a percentage of profit or something.