What’s colorful, pretentious, and smells like Benihana? Give up? Japanese people vomiting after seeing Babel. Apparently, the overacted Brad Pitt shitfest has been so poorly received by Japanese audiences that it has actually caused many of them to unload their stomachs during theatrical viewings. I know this sounds like some outrageous and possibly tasty joke, but there’s nothing funny about the Land of the Rising Sun’s citizens doing their best Karen Carpenter impersonations. OK… maybe it’s a little humorous. Fine, it’s hysterical.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, as many as fifty moviegoers have experienced at least some form of nausea during or after viewing the Oscar winner. In particular, it seems to happen during a club scene featuring the film's Japanese schoolgirl character.
This hurling epidemic has even caused theater owners to hand out leaflets warning Babel fans of the explosive problem. It’s kind of like the first day of Calculus class when the professor tells you, “Look to your left. Now look to your right. Statistically, one of you will receive worse than a C-, and one of you will drop the class.” I’m not even sure which one is worse: vomiting Kobe beef all over your film date or blowing a thousand dollars because you can’t solve differential quotients.
Rumor has it that the spewing derives from audience reaction to the strobe lights; however, I have some serious doubts. Most likely, people just threw up after realizing they paid 42,000 Yen to sit through Babel.
