7 complain of ill health after watching U.S. movie 'Babel' in Aichi, Mie theaters

Midland Square Cinema, the theater in a movie-complex in Nagoya, has begun distributing leaflets warning viewers with the message not to stare at the screen continuously during the scene.

.....what should you do at the movies?

 

real question I guess is did these people have epilepsy or was it just bad food?

 

I got sick myself having to endure the whole convoluted plotline, as well as gratuitous nudity. I was feeling a bit queasy during the strobe lights, but nothing as bad as wasting ten ducats on this movie.

 

Personally I did not get sick watching Babel. However, I did have a hard time figuring out what it was all about, Alfie. I would be obliged if someone could tell me what the movie was about. Cheers.

Moderator: Readers, please stay on topic. Reviews of the film are not relevant to the discussion.

 

everything. If this was in the US no doubt all 7 would have sued the theatre, distributor, movie company and producer and any of the people inbetween. You would have thought by now that load of experiments would have determined the exact frequency, time span, intensity, brightness, etc and made a white paper good enough to inform movie companies to use stobe effects in such a manner that if would not affect anyone. Any uni kids out there want to experiment?

 

Yeah real challenging film...takes a few brain cells rubbing together to produce a spark. As for stobe sickness, good luck with that. I didnt care for brad pits role but the Japanese actress was awesome. The director has intrested me ever since Amores Peros, which is his best film so far. I wouldnt recommend it to those that cant understand anything more that car flips, exploding yatchs, bad one lines and annoying heavy rap songs throughout the movie.

 

it was the popcorn...

 

I have no choice but to agree with ronin5. I felt extremely depressed after the movie. I guess I could have gotten a similar emotional effect by killing off everyone dear to me. Would have saved the price of admission.

 

This happened a couple of years ago when a pokeymon episode sent dozens of kids to the hospital from some kind of strobe effect. Does anyone remember that?

 

Definitely the same thing, and I agree the J-folks take it all passively yet it's good they don't sue everything that moves. It's newsworthy because it doesn't happen often, but the media should know by now. A lot of it is just grabbing people's brain stem by any means it takes, which is why I opt out.

 

cwhite-"yeah, but at least Japanese don't sue over
everything. If this was in the US no doubt all 7 would have sued the theatre, distributor, movie company and producer..."

Well, I guess you don't know japanese society and or American society very well then I guess.

 

I know Japanese do sue, but not the same way Americans do. Only in Japan would you have people living next to a nut blasting music all day all night for 5-10 years and nobody burns the house down, beat the owner up or worse. I know I was generalizing, but when it comes to suing the whole world knows Americans sue for big money and what reallyreal hits the headlines are the reallyreal stupid ones like I tripped on the curb while reading the morning paper. It's actually big money, so I only need to imagine what would happen if the same situtaion should occur in the US.

 

Yes - it was about 10 years ago, I think (doesn't time fly?)

The warning the distributor has now given doesn't sound very clear - something more specific should be given, I think, particularly for the sake of people with epilepsy, for whom strobe effects can have a particularly distressing effect.

 

...can induce nausea. From the clips of the movie I've seen, it looks as though the movie was filmed with a hand-held camera. Yes, believe it or not, this can make people quite ill.

 

I thought the film was actually very well made and interesting. It shows how everyone in the world is somehow related, has a very altruistic vibe.

Not all films can be "feel good" movies like the ones americans are so fond of. If this movie makes you use your brain a little, thats not a bad thing to me. I cant really see how Babel is "confusing". Its pretty straight forward if you ask me...

As for the scene in the club (Club Womb in Shibuya) I thought it was quite genius and reminded me of some great times I had at that very club. I guess I am used to strobe lights? The purpose of a strobe light is to make you feel MORE DRUNK and quite possibly dizzy. Fun.