Fumer fait tousser

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.

Five vigilantes dressed in blue who can invoke, death, destruction from the compounds in their smoke, Mercury and Nicotine, Ammonia, Methanol - Benzene, plus a rat who dribbles green, you wouldn't stroke (unless you were an attractive young lady with a fetish for vermin, they do exist apparently!). Sent away to come together and prepare, revealing stories leaving eyebrows in the air, hats that change wearers perception, machinery of misconception, defective robots lead to anguish, gloom, despair. Then Lézardin decides to stub earth's light, extinguishing a planet with his clout, can Tobacco Force exhale, create a cancer to avail, getting hooked into a cycle, with no way out.

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'.

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.

Collecting some vaguely creative ideas and putting them in a movie without any real work cannot make a good result. Some projects may lack some budget and compensate with creativity. Here, we get the exact opposite, with a huge cast trapped into a non-existing direction. You'll always find some people to find it's genius or whatever. These people are only trying to look cool.

The movie is excessively short and boring at the same time. The stories composing the film are all shallow and its "modern" messages are not subtle at all. Either people won't get them or people will find them simplistic.

If Quentin Dupieux started working a little bit harder, maybe the result would deserve some interest and show some respect to the audience. Here, we are served something without any care or teste. The movie is emotionless. Because it seems inspired by Peter Jackson's early works and the Metal Heroes era, it should at least have their spirit and energy...