Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Academy Award-winning film Babel opened in Japan this past weekend, and it seems to have had an unforeseen effect on some of its viewers: it has made them physically ill. While I’m sure a thousand smart ass jokes have just jumped into the heads of people who disliked this film, I still think Babel should have won the Academy Award for Best Film over The Departed so I refuse to make any wisecracks. Curiously, it is the scene in the Japanese nightclub that seems to have been problematic; the rapid-fire editing and flashing strobe lights have caused at least 15 people complain to theatre management about feeling sick thus far. As a result, distributor Gaga Communications will be adding a warning to the movie website and posters.

I didn’t see the movie on the big screen so I can’t say whether or not it was all that disorienting, but it does seem a bit weird that the film has played in over 40 countries and Japan is the first one to have this problem. The article over at Yahoo! also reminds us about The Great Pokemon Scare of 1997, when flashing lightning in an episode of the cartoon caused hundreds of reported seizures and general nausea. Strange but true!