Inside Cinema

Dinner Tables

Bon Appétit! Jacob Stolworthy on how the humble dinner table never fails to serve up delicious movie moments, playing a crucial supporting role in everything from the cringeworthy comedy mishaps of Meet the Parents and Back to the Future, to the tense family drama of Boyhood and American Beauty, to the violent crime thrillers of Goodfellas and Sicario. Table settings can make outlandish characters a little more relatable, or they can add extra flavour to scenes of horror and absurdity, as seen in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Eraserhead. Far from an inanimate object, the dinner table can bring any film to life.