Smoking Causes Coughing

Quentin Dupieux never seems to make a conventional movie, and for that, I love him. The bizarre imageries of his imagination makes me curiously wonder what his daily thought process is. For Cigarettes Causes Coughing, it's yet another subversive trek that will leave you confused and wanting more explanation.

The American advertising made this look like a weird take on Marvel movies, but as usual, it morphed into something else entirely. We have a superhero group that is in malaise, breaking due to other conditions of the typical human experience. Jealousy, selfishness, family obligations and so forth are making them ineffective in the field. So what is needed? A group retreat.

But we don't see any real hashing out of emotions or team building per se, it's mostly just existential dread and stories about the inevitability of death. It's always a tough sledding to figure out what Dupieux is trying to convey, simply because his version of reality is rarely coherent. Amidst the washed out color of the worlds he creates, he leaves all meaning for the viewer to decide. What would happen if Nick Fury was in the middle of a love triangle with Black Widow and Captain Marvel? It's one of those weird scenarios that I am sure Dupieux thinks of while sipping his cognac.

The trick to watching these types of meaning is to understand there might not be one, or it might require some reading to figure it out. On the other hand, they sure are strange and entertaining anti-film.

Stars an odd group of fantastic vigilantes called the "tobacco-forces", the five super heroes are nicotine, benzène (benzene), méthanol (methanol), ammoniaque (ammonia), and mercure (mercury), their names are all chemical components found inside cigarettes and now they're falling apart. To rebuild team spirit, their leader, Benzène: Gilles Lellouche, suggests that they meet for a week-long retreat, before returning to save the world.

Cinema Indie's 'Enfant Terrible', Quentin Dupieux (Yannick, Mandibules), directs this surreal, sloppy fantasy comedy full of stories as extravagant and bizarre as the film's premise. After annihilating a dangerous giant torture facing off against them, the ungainly tobacco patrol formed by a motley team uses the negative energies of tobacco to drown their enemies until they die, they receive the order to begin a retreat that strengthens the cohesion of the group and allows them to defeat Lizard, a villain who intends to destroy the earth before the year ends. From there, the tacky story of the retreat joins the stories of the eccentric protagonists in a spiral of dark humor, full of puddles, unpredictable characters, incongruous events, ramshackle gore and lousy special effects. The cast is largely unknown to the general public, except for Gilles Lellouche, Vincent Lacoste, Adèle Exarchopoulos as Céline and voice by Alain Chabat as Chief Didier.

Mediocre and somewhat blurry photography mainly in the South of France: the opening scene was shot in the quarry Cabrières d'Avignon, Vaucluse; the lake in Lac de Peïroou, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône; the sawmill in Les Mages, Gard; Uzès and studios of Provence, Martigues, Bouches-du-Rhône, Francia.

This absurd motion picture was mediocrely directed by Quentin Dupieux and it premiered at the midnight section of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Being second film directed by Quentin Dupieux released in 2022, after Incredible But True (2022). Quentin has made some bizarre, offbeat films, getting some french hits. He has directed: Le Daim or Deerskin (United States, English title) (2010), Au poste (2018), Mandibules (2020), Yannick (2023), and its most succesful film was Rubber (2010). Rating: 4.5/10. Only advisable for fans of strange and surreal films.

Actually they are not ... or are they? Well anyhow, no pun intended. Also do not try this at home - smoking is not good. And since we are not able to use it as a weapon (see the movie for more), we best not start with it in the first place.

Now if you have seen a Quentin Dupieux movie before ... I do not have to explain to you what you can expect. If you haven't ... it is tough to prepare anyone for what is to come. It is silly and it is quite dark (humor and otherwise) ... and yet it really hits the spot when it comes to jokes. You have to dig them of course. Having really known actors in his movies now too - even in smaller roles. Also do not try to make sense of things - this sort of has a coherent story, but not in the sense you may be used to.

Also in the vain of superhero movies there is a scene after the credits. Which is a first for the director if I am not mistaken ... anyway, it makes sense ... again as much as possible, considering the camp fire tales and the "monsters" in costumes we get ... this is weird - just the way you hopefully like it.

Quentin Duplex wrote the very weird, 'Deerskin', which I did enjoy. And this is just as crazy as that. I admit the trailer for this, is very bad, and really does not do the film justice, as it's entertaining, and is short too. It certainly earns its rating for violence and gore, buckets of blood, monsters get killed, and the stories that are shared during the movie and the whole film story itself, is bizarre, funny and quite mad.

The story is about a sort of super hero group with names about smoking, it's metaphoric in nature, but their actions are not. The five key players are very likeable and written well, the production design, costumes and whole look is 1970's Japanese Kaiju movies / Power Rangers rip off / homage, done crazily. But it works, just, thanks to the short run time and performances too.

Some great effects that are done real well, and used sparingly, and the tone is not to be taken seriously, which you can't, and that's the point. 6/10 for this, just not enough for a 7. A limited release and audience for this one, if you can find it. The ending is just as nuts as 'Deerskin'.

The avenging "Tobacco Force" group of crime fighters is struggling to function. After many years of combating enemy beasties using their superpowers - the chemicals that, when combined, cause cancer - they are all just falling out of synch. This has not escaped the notice of their ferret-like boss "Chef Didier" who sends them all to a remote retreat where they are to work on their teamwork skills. Around the camp fire, one decides to regale the others with his most terrifying story - and thereafter, one by one, they proceed to outdo each other with increasingly incredulous stories whilst the two women of the group - "Nicotine" (Anaïs Demoustier) and "Ammoniaque" (Oulaya Amamra) pine over the spurned affections of their really pretty revolting, dribbling, boss (anyone remember "Roland Rat"?). For a while it's quite quirkily entertaining, this film - but after about half an hour the joke has worn thin, the pace drops off and the whole thing just loses it's way. It is original - at times it reminded me a little of "Galaxy Quest" (1999), and clearly there is a warning against using the dreaded weed, but Quentin Dupieux didn't really have enough material to sustain this - even for eighty minutes. That said, it is still worth a watch and there are occasions when it made me smile - just not enough of them - and on the telly will do fine.