Well, this is a brilliant idea. Japan Tobacco is holding a promotional screening of the movie Sin City, and I suppose appropriately in relation to the film’s title at least, they are inviting 150 heavy smokers to watch the film while smoking their hearts out. In fact, smoking will be required during the screening. This is apparently in reaction to the recent restrictions against smoking, in a country which is still the most smoker-friendly of the industrialized nations. However, as we have seen with Christians in the U.S., no group feels more persecuted for minor restrictions than the constituency which is the largest, most powerful, and least imposed upon.

But this screening should get awards for sheer lack of common sense for a few key reasons. First of all, smoking is prohibited in movie theaters for reasons other than the lovely aroma the practice produces; theater smoking was among the first to be banned for the very cogent reason that the upward trails of smoke obscure the image on the screen. Now imagine everyone smoking. Wall-to-wall smoke trails, and an ever-increasing smoke cloud gathering directly in the path of the light from the projector. Yeah, that’ll look good.

But the second reason is a real kicker: this film will likely be screened in one of those pocket theaters, packed with seats in a small space. Now, smoking rooms get pretty dense with smoke even when you’ve just got people seated relatively sparsely. But a room which is mostly seating, filled with no one but chain smokers for more than two hours? In a room not designed with ventilation to handle heavy smoking?

Forget whether or not the film will be visible to the viewers. They’ll be lucky if anyone in the theater is conscious by the time it ends.