This review may contain spoilers
A bizarre and comical movie with a unique plot.
Since this movie has no reviews, I thought I'd give my two-cents on it. First off, it's available on the streaming app Tubi, which has a good catalog of lesser known to obscure Japanese media. Barashi Fight happens to be low-budget, and at times noticeably, but it still makes up for it with a ton of absurdity. The story, I'll be honest, is pretty unique and sounds like the plot of an anime or a manga for a lack of better words. Strapped for cash, departments in a theatre production fight to near death (legally, ahem, no harm to theatre property btw) to see who's worthy enough to attend the prod after-party?! As someone who has directed plays in school this would have been hilarious - it would've been a darn bloodbath with how serious everyone was. The story kind of gives us some exposition on 'Barashi' which happens to be this battle royale event after the play's over.
All of this eventually snowballs into a single question for our protagonists, and every crew member fighting for a glass of beer - what does the after-party mean to them? Through all the rice cooker and mannequin head fights, I found myself asking this question: why were these people fighting for the after-party, and why was only one department deemed worthy enough for it? Turns out the story was all about power abuse and, to an extent, harassment from upper management. And honestly, yeah, crew members should be treated better! Give them their flowers! Though I reckon I lost so many important points at the end because the subtitles completely lost any remaining sense by then.
Some of the more throwaway parts of the story, like Shinto's whole thing, was honestly confusing - he did what he did for the sake of art? Very weird pivot for the character. You see, the story's absurd, so I'd forgive most of the inconsistencies because of the absurdity and low budget. On the other hand, I think the actors were fine. I was pretty impressed by the action, and how they used the props! Couldn't have been easy wielding a speaker as a weapon - I say this with absolute seriousness all things considered. You could tell some of the actors were slightly awkward at the very beginning, but they got better as the story went on. It also felt like a stage play towards the end - the fact that it's set in one location helped a ton.
There wasn't much in terms of music, except for the song at the end which may have been performed by a J-pop boy group I couldn't quite identify unfortunately.
I'll end this review by saying that while I don't think I'd watch this again, it was a bizarre story that everyone involved frankly managed to pull of! Granted this was no 'One Cut of the Dead,' but it was a good effort, and managed to get some laughs from me (Tomoegawa's wife at the end lol). And for all that, I'll give everyone in this their flowers.
All of this eventually snowballs into a single question for our protagonists, and every crew member fighting for a glass of beer - what does the after-party mean to them? Through all the rice cooker and mannequin head fights, I found myself asking this question: why were these people fighting for the after-party, and why was only one department deemed worthy enough for it? Turns out the story was all about power abuse and, to an extent, harassment from upper management. And honestly, yeah, crew members should be treated better! Give them their flowers! Though I reckon I lost so many important points at the end because the subtitles completely lost any remaining sense by then.
Some of the more throwaway parts of the story, like Shinto's whole thing, was honestly confusing - he did what he did for the sake of art? Very weird pivot for the character. You see, the story's absurd, so I'd forgive most of the inconsistencies because of the absurdity and low budget. On the other hand, I think the actors were fine. I was pretty impressed by the action, and how they used the props! Couldn't have been easy wielding a speaker as a weapon - I say this with absolute seriousness all things considered. You could tell some of the actors were slightly awkward at the very beginning, but they got better as the story went on. It also felt like a stage play towards the end - the fact that it's set in one location helped a ton.
There wasn't much in terms of music, except for the song at the end which may have been performed by a J-pop boy group I couldn't quite identify unfortunately.
I'll end this review by saying that while I don't think I'd watch this again, it was a bizarre story that everyone involved frankly managed to pull of! Granted this was no 'One Cut of the Dead,' but it was a good effort, and managed to get some laughs from me (Tomoegawa's wife at the end lol). And for all that, I'll give everyone in this their flowers.
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