‘Smoking Causes Coughing’ is a comedy sc-fi movie that follows a group of costumed vigilantes, La Tabac Force, as they try to reinvigorate their group spirit by going on a team-building retreat.
The film opens on the team taking down the villainous Tortusse, - a giant tortoise. Realising they took longer to take down their nemesis, the team are sent on a week end retreat to reignite their team spirit.
On reaching their destination, the team regale each other with stories around the campfire. The team exchange non-sequential and bizarre stories, leading up to the point where they are warned by their handler that the earth is facing imminent doom.
Unaware the threat is thwarted from an unexpected party, the group accept their fate, reconcile their differences and await their doom.
Loosely tied together by the super hero team reminiscent of the Power Rangers, ‘Smoking Causes Coughing’ has the feel of a relaxed, surreal and ultimately enjoyable anthology.
The film contains a number of bizarre tales, inviting the viewer to disregard the main story-line, vague as it may be, and fully become committed to the here and now of the cut-away stories. The film successfully transports the viewer into the new thread and manages to abandon it as swiftly as it had begun. Without much hesitation, Dupieux does not dwell on the meaning or impact of the individual tales and feels free to hop from one narrative to the next.
The design of the film adds to its novelty, - even though a passing by family is shown at the beginning of the film using smartphones and driving a current Mercedes model, La Force seem to be operating with technology tied to the 80’s with their team assistant robot reminiscent of a scaled down version of Sico the Robot from Rocky IV.
With its non sequitur stories, ‘Smoking Causes Coughing’ invites us to suspend disbelief to be able to fully appreciate its uncanny glory, yet it does not impose itself on the viewer. With its uneven yet light tone, the film provides for a selection of curious, and sometimes even scary tales. Without a clear underlying though-line, the film does not concern itself with providing for a deep and provocative moral, rather enjoying its own funky feel, jumping from one chronicle to the next.
Hilarious and unforced, ‘Smoking Causes Coughing’ delivers a series of peculiar accounts of perplexing and oddly thought provoking stories, yet does not find it necessary to think on them too much, not attempting to resolve any monumental philosophical or moral quandaries, rather focusing on the bizarre and uneven flow of events, resulting in a successful collection of divergent anecdotes.
Score: 3/4
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