Make Believe Seattle 2023 Review: SMOKING CAUSES COUGHING, Obviously
The first several moments of Quentin Dupieux’s newest feature, Smoking Causes Coughing, feature a quintet of superheroes (Gilles Lellouche, Anaïs Demoustier, Vincent Lacoste, Jean-Pascal Zadi, and Oulaya Amamra) battling a ferocious turtle monster before blowing it to bits, and obliging a traveling family’s request for a photo op for their son. The ceremonial confab ends with one of the team members revealing the secret to their powers, contextualizing with a PSA to the young boy about the importance of growing up with healthy lungs unlike his “idiot” father, seen smoking in the backdrop. In jocular fashion, that’s the big setup for the greater plot twists that await our protagonists following their deadly battle as their leader, Chief Didier, assigns them to a remote lakeside retreat to vacation, as a means of improving their teamwork. He’s not wrong either; team morale is still there, but as the first battle scene shows, […]
