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In the collective imagination, rightly or wrongly, we are led to believe that the categories of people who know everything about everyone are essentially two: concierges and barbers.
But let's try to think of an object, for example, a coffee and hot beverage dispenser (with a chilling terminology we would say "automatic beverage dispenser") and perhaps place it in any office: how many stories has it heard? It is usually the ideal place to eavesdrop on an office's strengths and weaknesses; the only place where people freely exchange opinions of various kinds, gossip about colleagues, declarations of love, and weekend plans. This is because the coffee break represents a small moment of tranquility where it's easy to let one's thoughts flow freely without constraints and inhibitions.
"Camera Cafè" is inspired by such situations. The proposed visual field is always that of the vending machine, the unique, uncompromising flagship of the sitcom. The characters change, the hours change, the protagonists' moods change, but the perspective always remains the same. A single image: a long corridor leading to the company's elevator, the so-called "relaxation area"; very few scenic elements: the bathroom door and the kitchenette door (from the fourth series), three plants, two stainless steel tables, a photocopier, and little more.
In this context, we witness moments of everyday life that each of us (you), the (un)fortunate wage-earners, have experienced many times. Pranks among colleagues, quarrels, catchphrases, political matters of principle, comments on colleagues' figures, tales of erotic dreams, leading up to the most glaring hypocrisies and never-confessed lies alternate. The discovery, in short, of Italians. Hilarious, cynical, sarcastic, unpredictable, paradoxical (and much more), driven by the chameleon-like Luca and Paolo, the employees of Tondello Spa (only in the pilot episode of the first series is the company's name revealed) take turns in front of the coffee machine which, with a benevolent and never critical eye, opens the doors to their eccentric worlds, their little neuroses, recurring crises, jealousies, envies, grudges but also a lot of healthy fun, and intelligent and witty humor. Stories of everyday reality where one can easily identify. Grotesquely credible characters, ambiguously authentic, to whom one quickly becomes attached.
The various sketches follow a relentless pace and it's hilarious to discover the progression of a given situation over the course of the entire day and how the same topic is approached with different opinions depending on who is in front and personal conveniences. Four series in eight years (with the fifth in preparation and on screens in the fall), nearly 1500 sharp and unconventional episodes, against all hypocrisy; "Camera Cafè" is a revolutionary format in form and substance, subtly and pragmatically exploring the dynamics of human and social relationships among colleagues, managing to elicit more than one laugh and, at the same time, provoke reflection.
In this very frenetic world, on television where what is presented proves to be equally frantic, an effective product for relaxation. A pleasant diversion among the many trash programs that populate the cathode ray tube.
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