Tobacco Pressure, a five-person superhero organization known as Tobacco Pressure, dispatches a gigantic rubber turtle monster with a concentrated stream of cigarette smoke, causing the beast to explode in a protracted, persistent unfolding of gore.
Chief Didier appears to be a ratlike puppet who appears to be smoking unchecked and burning down to ash, and he's continuously drooling inexperienced goo on himself. One Tobacco Pressure member has a painfully unrequited crush on this womanizing, slobbering, red-eyed rat factor.
From here on, everything will become weirder.
Magnet Releasing in a Picture
The heroes of Tobacco Pressure are assigned with an unusual task: When Mercury experiences efficiency nervousness and might not smoke on demand, Chief Didier orders a forced-fun retreat, according to the Chief, to deal with their dwindling group cohesion ahead of a potential catastrophic event.
Dupieux creates a wonderfully bizarre and micro-scale world-building for his or her retreat. They revel in seawater showers, laborious titanium beds, and a fully equipped grocery shop that only takes them once. They sleep and go swimming in their full Tobacco Pressure costumes.
Dupieux fills the short 80-minute film with bonkers swerves, because he rejects superhero narrative guidelines in favor of whiplash-inducing stories.
Dupieux's stories are funny, absurd, and violent. His 2010 film Rubber, a couple of murdered rubber automobile tires, has some of the most chilling and soothing scenes, yet it's so subtle and subtle that it makes the whole of Smoking Causes Coughing price watching.
Dupieux claims that his superhero film "by no means imposes any large speeches," and that it is merely a "unabashed supply of inconsequential pleasure." That's true — this can be a low-key hangout film with remarkably little stakes and no huge decision. (Stick round for the post-credits scene that simply underlines Dupieux's desire to not wrap up a narrative."
The simplicity and amorality of Smoking Causes Coughing is difficult to reconcile with its themes of environmental degradation, air pollution, and societal disconnect. However, Dupieux's efforts might be in part due to his inherent incompetence.
When Tobacco Pressure chairman Benzene tells a starry-eyed fan of the group that smoking is an unhealthy habit that can deteriorate his body and make him look cool, our heroes wind up nervously chain-smoking anyway, while reliving the absurdity and missed opportunities of their lives.
The film "Smoking Causes Coughing" is now available for rental or purchase on Amazon, Vudu, and other digital platforms.
