“A cup of black coffee is a black hole where we can reveal the secrets in our hearts.”

Just like a psychological counselor, OFF COFFEE provides a place where mothers can say all the things in their heart that they usually can’t say, don’t dare to say. It relieves the pressure and restores a sense of well-being. We built a deep, elegant connection with coffee, transforming coffee into a friend you can confide in, an escape route for mothers. And those moments when they are drinking coffee by themselves became important moments of self-healing.

To communicate with mothers, our target audience, we made a film filled with cultural memories commonly held by many Taiwanese women in their 40s and 50s. The film’s leading lady is Tarcy Su, a beautiful idol when they were young who is now herself a 50-year-old housewife. The film also features “Let’s Come Together,” a variety show that was wildly popular in the 1980s and its host, as well as the coming-of-age movie “Blue Moon” that Tarcy Su starred in during the 1990s. The film also resurrects the costumes, cafes, buildings and street scenes of the 1990s. Through these culturally meaningful entertainment images and symbols, we rekindled the collective memory of our target audience, leading them to feel the same way as in their youth, and sparking immediate resonance.

The film’s creative premise is to view coffee as a black hole. The director sought to capture all the unexpressed words, thoughts and moments that had disappeared into the hearts of mothers.

Circles constitute the unifying visual motif, alluding to the connection between coffee and black holes. The opening shot of the heroine, the round patio, the black hole in an astronomy book, and the overhead view of a coffee cup all share the same circular imagery, arousing curiosity. Musically, the Irish folk ballad “Danny Boy” is dedicated to father and evokes warm feelings, just like coffee.

Crucially, culture, entertainment, costumes and scenes from the 1980s and 1990s resonate with middle-aged women. The subtle cinematic vocabulary reflecting the mother’s conflicted psychological state reminds the audience of their many roles, as daughter, woman, and girl.

A mother’s worries, longings, memories, joys and sorrows: don’t stifle them, tell them to your coffee.