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Bart, Lindsey and guest, Noah Glenn, discuss Shin'ichirō Ueda's 2017 meta-zombie-horror-comedy, One Cut of the Dead, that follows a film crew who are tasked with making a zombie horror film for live television that must be shot in a single take; the film initially depicts One Cut of the Dead as a film within a film, then goes back in time to show the origins and production of the project from the perspective of the cast and crew. A fascinating exploration of low budget filmmaking!
Creators and Guests
Host
Host
Lindsey Roberts
Lindsey Roberts is a film, commercial and theatre actress, who has appeared in over 20 films including Hustle and Flow and Craig Brewer's breakthrough film, The Poor and Hungry. Her extensive theatre roles have included Velma in Chicago, Tanya in Mamma Mia, Nancy in Oliver and multiple years as Pan in Peter Pan.
What is Die Laughing?
You'd be hard pressed to find a more divisive sub-genre of horror than horror-comedy. Those who hate it, really, really hate it. But for those of us who love horror as much as we love comedy, there is something truly special about a film that manages to combine these two genres into a perfect blend.
On the Die Laughing podcast, hosts Bart Shannon, Lindsey Roberts and a weekly special guest, take a tour through some of the best and worst entries in the horror comedy field!
speaker-0 (00:02.412)
Lindsay Roberts, we have our first non-English speaking film.
speaker-1 (00:08.045)
Isn't that right? I love it. And a good one at that.
speaker-0 (00:11.488)
An excellent one. One that's probably known best for its 37 minute one take portion, but it is so much more than that. Pum! Pum! You wanna get started? Welcome to another episode PUM of Die Laughing.
speaker-1 (00:20.682)
It is Yes, let's do it.
speaker-0 (00:50.286)
Hello my friend.
speaker-1 (00:51.938)
Hello a Bart.
speaker-0 (00:55.096)
How has your time been since our last episode?
speaker-1 (00:59.63)
I mean, right now I'm I'm pretty busy at work. I know I think I say that every time, but I it's very true. So but the company that I work for is getting ready to separate from its parent company. So that separation happens soon and so that keeps me really, really busy during the day. But I've got a great team. but I've been good. Jackson's good, you know, we're rocking and rolling post graduation.
speaker-0 (01:23.64)
So you three months of life as you know it, and then after that it's gonna be a whole new life for Lindsay Roberts and a whole whole new set of priorities, from the last nineteen years, eighteen, nineteen years of your life.
speaker-1 (01:36.972)
Yeah, he'll be nineteen by then. Yeah. I mean it's it's I don't know what to do with myself. I'm either gonna be an official cat lady or I'm gonna become a workaholic, or I've gotta figure something out. I need hobbies. Can we continue this podcast, please? Okay, great.
speaker-0 (01:50.838)
Yes.
so this movie that we're doing today by the way, my week's been going well. Thank you.
speaker-1 (02:00.12)
Bart Shannon, you need to give me a second to ask. Bart, how has your week been?
speaker-0 (02:07.342)
This movie yeah, but things are good. Things are good. There's a lot I like about this movie. Mm-hmm. As I said in the cold open, this is our first foreign language film that we've discussed. How about that?
speaker-1 (02:21.356)
Yeah. Yeah. And a darn fine one. Quite a ride.
speaker-0 (02:25.208)
Quite a right. And we gave our guest three options as always, and we gave him by sheer accident, two of the three were foreign language films. I just realized. So yeah, I guess we're branching out around the world. We're getting our sea legs.
speaker-1 (02:36.61)
Yeah. That's right. And this one's quite worthy.
speaker-0 (02:40.344)
Right worthy. How about let's go ahead and tell the people what movie we're we're discussing today and then we can kind of move forward because I'm keep biting my tongue in the figurative sense.
speaker-1 (02:51.99)
Yeah, so this week we are watching one cut of the dead from twenty seventeen.
speaker-0 (03:00.11)
Shinichiro Uida directed this film. I saw this film a few years ago on Shudder, and I didn't know anything about it. And I watched the first 37 minutes, the credits rolled, and I turned it off.
So for years I only saw the the first thirty seven minutes.
speaker-1 (03:23.032)
You're like, that's the shortest movie I've ever seen in my life. You know, it's funny because when you turn it on, it says, you know, when you're streaming it now, it says it's an hour and a half long film. And so when the first thirty seven minutes was over, I was like, Is the rest of it like a documentary about the making of this thirty seven minutes? I thought maybe that's what it was.
speaker-0 (03:46.776)
Well, you're smarter than me because I thought that it was a an error on the shutter app and somehow it had a accidentally called it an hour and thirty six.
speaker-1 (03:55.49)
When it was just thirty seven. Mm-hmm.
speaker-0 (03:57.622)
I thought, I that's that's odd. Shows you my amount of patience as soon as the credits rolled and scene turn off.
speaker-1 (04:04.376)
Yeah. And like that's cool, fascinating, moving on. Yep.
speaker-0 (04:07.534)
Time to eat some more queso. And that was that. so yeah, so this was the first time I'd seen the thing all the way through. And I have so many things to say because this movie has so many layers to discuss, and then it becomes a just total mind trip at a certain point of how creative they are. And like you said, is like, is this a documentary about the making of it? It's so much more than that and just goes beyond it. But yeah, fascinating movie.
Japanese film.
speaker-1 (04:38.784)
no idea how they made this movie. I'm just gonna say it. I've no clue.
speaker-0 (04:41.902)
From what I read online, and I try I tried multiple sources to see if someone could disprove it, if they were creative cuts in the 37 minutes. And from everything that I gathered, they were not. It was they did six takes, and this was take number six for the first 37 minutes. So very impressive. In fact, I I thought when the camera falls at some point, I thought, well, okay, so they clear the frame, and then that's where a cut point is because nothing's in the frame and it's a static shot. but it
But according to what I read online, no, that's it is thirty seven minutes continuous and that explains a lot of the odd things that happen at thirty seven minutes.
speaker-1 (05:18.968)
Yeah. Yeah. You figure the find that some of that stuff out later.
speaker-0 (05:24.118)
So you and I, Lindsay, have never said spoiler alert because we just assume these movies that we usually do are they've been around for a while. And I recommend people watch a movie that any podcast is about. But this one, I cannot emphasize enough that you should watch this movie first before we jump into this thing, because there are so many delights in this movie that are such a pleasant surprise that it would be you'd be doing yourself a disservice to not have that enjoyment.
speaker-1 (05:52.354)
Yeah, a thousand percent agree. If you've not seen this movie, stop, pause this, go watch it, and then come pick this back up because I want you to get the experience of watching what the intent of this film is before we kind of dive in and and reveal its secrets.
speaker-0 (06:10.112)
If you get a chance, go go watch this movie. It's not long. And then come back and listen to this podcast. It's not long. It's not thirty seven minutes, but it's not long.
speaker-1 (06:12.366)
It's not long.
Hour and a half.
Mm-mm. Yeah. That's correct. Well, shall we bring on our amazing guest?
speaker-0 (06:23.5)
Yeah, 'cause I I wanna talk about this.
speaker-1 (06:25.602)
Look, I'm excited to jump right in.
speaker-0 (06:27.638)
Yeah, let's do it. Yeah. Let's bring on our guest.
speaker-1 (06:30.06)
I'm very excited about our guest today. It's somebody I've known for quite a long time. Filmmaker, film writer, sound engineer, extraordinaire. Known him since about twenty ten. So a little while now. But let's welcome to the podcast. And I definitely want to get into a lot of the projects he's been working on lately. But let's welcome to the podcast, Mr. Noah Glenn.
speaker-0 (06:53.208)
Hey Noah Glenn.
speaker-2 (06:54.412)
Hey everybody. Hey, I'm happy to be here and I'm glad you're finally welcoming me in because just your intro already starting to talk about the film. I've I'm holding back from trying to jump in already.
speaker-1 (07:05.974)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I I I cannot wait to dive in here. But yeah, super excited to have you on. Like I say, I've known Noah for a long time. We actually met my last go round playing Peter Pan at Playhouse on the Square. you were the sound designer.
speaker-0 (07:21.026)
Wait, you played Peter Pan?
speaker-1 (07:22.922)
Bart Shannon. Yeah. I sure did. The first time I played Pan was like in ninety seven or ninety-eight. And then the twenty ten year was my last go round. But yeah. So twenty ten came back to do it. Noah Glenn was our sound designer. Fast forward with my new role. I've interviewed this amazing lady for my creative team and she was just awesome. Just
Could not wait to get her on board. She comes on board and she's like, So you know my husband. You know, you guys work together at doing Peter Pan at Clayhouse on the Square. Her name is Lindsay Glenn. She's amazing. And she's like, My husband's Noah. And I was like, Come on. You very rarely kind of overlap theater, film, and business worlds. So it was definitely awesome to get back in touch with you, Noah. Thanks for joining us today. Yeah.
speaker-2 (08:16.91)
And my wife had been talking about her new boss and saying your name and I made no connection to the fact that I knew who you were until finally she was like, I found out that that my boss does some acting and she's been and I was like, Wait, what's her name? Lindsay Roberts? that Lindsay Rob that's your boss? Like me, you'll always just be the boy who wouldn't grow up, Peter
speaker-1 (08:42.709)
That's right.
speaker-0 (08:43.458)
And I know her as the woman who just won't shut up. Hello.
speaker-1 (08:47.232)
It's true. He's like, please stop yelling on the podcast. I get excited.
speaker-0 (08:50.222)
But anyway, Noah, so I know you're involved with a film festival in Memphis. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
speaker-2 (08:59.624)
Yeah, I for the past year I've been running a new nonprofit called Like You Film Club that supports the emotional growth and mental wellness of kids through film. We do an annual children's film festival, the Like You Children's Film Festival. And I feel like a lot of people ask me, like, what even is what's a children's film festival? And like have some trouble wrapping their head around it. In a lot of ways, it's really just like any any film festival.
We've got blocks of shorts. We've got features. We've got workshops. We actually have a we call it Give Me the Creeps. It's kind of like a kid's not it's hard to call it horror, but just that, you know, like if you like Coralline or those kinds of like there's a little creepiness to to a movie. Our festival is films for kids and families, not primarily made by kids. we do have a like a kid made block and a teen made block.
This is really meant to be like, hey, while they're still young, just help fall in love with with filmmaking. We should probably put in video and followed me from Like You Film Club over to this podcast with their kids, like, no, this is not for your kids to listen to. This is not
speaker-0 (10:18.816)
Welcome to the show. We're absolutely glad you're here with us. And what is your history with this movie? Have you had you seen this movie previously?
speaker-2 (10:28.362)
No, my history is you sent me a list of films to pick for the podcast and I hadn't seen any of them. And so I you know, watched some trailers, read a little bit about them, and this one just I loved the kind of the nesting of you know, you all were talking about not knowing going in what to expect.
I had I had a little of what to expect because I watched a trailer and I couldn't tell what was going on and so I read about it and I got that there was going to be the different parts of the film. Even knowing that I still was I don't know, everything that should have paid off did. Mm-hmm. In a way it didn't it did diminish it for me to to not be surprised by some of the things.
speaker-1 (11:11.19)
Yeah, it's like a play in three acts.
speaker-0 (11:13.366)
My perspective since I watched the first 37 minutes and then turned it off thinking that was it for for several years was different because I saw it that way, turned it off, and then I saw it started showing up on people's lists over the last few years. And I thought, I must have seen the original short film of it. That's what that was what I thought. I thought I I saw the 37 minute short film of this, and now they've made it into a feature. That's what that's what I had assumed out of all of it. And you what? I was just wrong.
Across the board.
speaker-1 (11:43.096)
Did you discover you were wrong when you suggested the film? When did you discover this? Yes. Okay, great. I love that.
speaker-0 (11:49.229)
I did.
speaker-0 (11:52.986)
I threw in a what I thought was a thirty seven minute thought that's what we're gonna be watching. As always, gonna plug movie madness. I was gonna go rent the movie from the video store and then I kept seeing it an hour and thirty six minutes. And then I saw an hour and thirty six minutes on Shutter, it was on Shutter, and so I pulled it up and was like, my god. This is this is a whole movie. There's there's a whole nother movie.
speaker-1 (11:56.331)
One take.
speaker-1 (12:16.056)
There's a
speaker-2 (12:17.358)
I was watching with with my wife and twenty five minutes in, she was like, Is this is this a full movie? Just like based on the number of people who had died and how many were left. She's like, Is this a like a full feature? I was like, Yeah, it is. and then like a few minutes later, she was like, I don't really see how it's gonna be much longer. Like what's
speaker-1 (12:36.67)
Right. So she and I are of the same ilk then because I'm sitting there watching this going, We're sure coming to a resolution pretty fast and we sure got a lot of film left. So I was really confused. And then the credits rolled and I was like, So just like we were saying before, I thought maybe this second section is like them on a stage, like talking about how they made this 37 minute one take film. I mean, like I I didn't know what to expect after the
Credits.
speaker-0 (13:06.594)
When the credits rolled this time, not the first time I saw it, but this time, I thought, so they've added on to that short film I saw. So that's what I thought was gonna happen. It's like they found a way to stretch this thing out, like all of us wish we could about short films we'd made in the past. It's like I'd love to turn that into a feature some way and recycle it anew.
speaker-1 (13:24.974)
And the fact that it just kept going, it's what adds to the movie's brilliance because first of all, six takes, that's it. I'm sitting here thinking when I get done watching this movie, I'm gonna start this research and it's gonna be like it took us four hundred and fifty takes to get this thirty seven minutes. You know what I mean? And knowing that they probably couldn't afford to do very many, but six, that's bananas.
speaker-2 (13:46.466)
That is impressive. I thought so in the film they say that this was the forty second take in the film within the film. It's take forty-two, I think. So I was really surprised it was only six. I once did a a one take film that was only ten or twelve minutes and it took us twelve takes. It and it was so much, it was like one room. It wasn't even one of these like where fancy you're impressed by they did that in one take. We obviously did it in one, you know, it was like
Very simple to do in one take and it took us twelve takes.
speaker-0 (14:19.134)
Noah, you mentioned it. This is it's a film within a film, but then it's a film within a film within a film at one point. It is. It's so cool. Or it's a or it's a film within a film behind the scenes within that film. And it's just very ingenious. and I have I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. it reminded me a lot of Man Bites Dog, movie from the early 90s about this film crew that's following around a serial killer. And there's a scene in the movie where
I think it's probably the most famous scene in the movie where they run into another film crew shooting another documentary on another serial killer, and then the two serial killers have to battle it out. But yeah, just so so well done, so many layers. Let's watch the trailer and then we can kind of watch that and discuss the trailer, and then we can jump right into it if everybody is down with that. Here's the trailer for 2017's One Cut of the Dead.
speaker-1 (15:12.152)
I'm so ready.
speaker-1 (15:40.088)
I got the
speaker-1 (15:44.48)
Ooh
speaker-0 (17:00.214)
I guess I should say that was the shutter trailer. But had I watched that trailer before I watched the movie originally, I would have known that there was more than the first thirty-seven minutes.
speaker-1 (17:10.808)
Well, they definitely had to be clever in what they could tell you in the trailer, which is why the trailer is also brilliant, which is why when Noah and I watched the trailer, we were like, I don't know what's happening and I still don't understand what this movie is about. Like, yes, this one did I bet Noah, you bet you and I saw the same one. I had not seen this one either, but they have to be really clever in what information they give you.
speaker-2 (17:33.922)
Yeah. I get how they don't wanna give away the full everything within the trailer, but it's like I watch two versions of the trailer and I was like, Okay, I I get that there's they're making a movie, a zombie movie, and then the director turns some other people into zombies and it becomes a real I was like, but it seems like there's something else more than that that's happening that they're not saying.
And so I had to go Google and kind of look up the plot. But even reading it, like a quick synopsis of there's it's kind of three different parts and here's what's happened. It just made it even more confusing. And that's why I was like, I've just got to watch it.
speaker-0 (18:17.224)
So the movie opens on a blood-soaked zombie walking towards a panicked woman who's holding a hatchet. And she says, she says, Ken, please stop. Ken freezes. she lets her guard down and reaches out to touch his hand, only to see him return to his zombie ways and continues towards her. She's trapped in a corner, and and all we've seen right now this sort of a very rusty, not rustic, rusty warehouse of s of some type underneath this set of stairs.
And she says, Ken, it's me, but Ken ain't listening. And he leans in, takes a bite out of her neck, and she softly says, I love you. And then we hear the director yell, cut, and the camera pans around the room. And now it reveals a movie crew, a very small crew. And we find out that that was the 40 second take that they had done so far of the scene. And the director kneels down to the actress and yells at her for her weak performance and says, do you know why your performance looks fake?
Because your life itself is utter fake.
speaker-1 (19:17.954)
Wow. So harsh. What a dick. Right. Totally. I'm like, come on. Cut her some slack, man. She's doing all right. I was really bad at him.
speaker-0 (19:28.43)
So right off the bat, a very confident, arrogant director who's demanding what he wants from the zombie flick and from the performances. he knows what he wants out of her performance. So he continues to scream at her, and the actor playing the zombie, the male zombie, pulls him away from her, saying he's over the line, but the director slaps that actor and begins yelling at him. And then they're both broken up by the makeup artist now, who suggests that they all take a break.
So the director stomps off on a huff, stomps up up these stairs, and you could now we can see that they're in this like what do they say? It's an abandoned water treatment plant, I believe is what they say later. Great location. The whole film was shot in the at this location and really spooky old factory. The crew takes a break, and the actress and the zombie actor, who we don't know names of yet, except for the actor the character's name was Ken.
That's another thing we're going to be doing a lot. Character, actor, actor, character. But the character's name was Ken. The actor's names, the one playing the zombie is Ko. And the actress's name is Chinatsu. So that's where we're starting from now. And I will definitely deviate and get confused moving forward. Ko says that the director is insane, but Chinatsu says, no, I'm just a lousy actor. She tells him to attack.
Her harder next time that they do the scene. And he asks her if he can come tonight. So we see that they are a couple. these two actors join now, the makeup artist upstairs, and a I think he's the AD. The AD has a bucket of fake blood and says that the director wants the bucket of blood on the roof. And now tells the actors that there's an urban legend that says that the shooting location that they're using.
was used for human experimentation by the Japanese army, where they tried to bring back the dead. Ko, the actor playing the zombie, asks the makeup artist if she has any hobbies. Very odd scene. And she says that she's learning self-defense, and he asks her to show him some. So she shows him a couple of moves where she'll show how to break free of a restraint with the words three, two, one, two.
speaker-0 (21:51.502)
Adorable scene, but the whole time you're like, go what what's happening here? Yeah.
speaker-2 (21:59.31)
Pacing is awkward. The content it's like, how does this fit into what we've seen so far?
speaker-0 (22:06.318)
Shinato even says, what a random question.
speaker-1 (22:08.846)
Mm-hmm. And then she starts clapping, great job.
speaker-0 (22:13.132)
Yeah. This is not even the longest either of the of the weird scenes. So the boom operator walks by, the camera follows him outside, and lands on the AD smoking a cigarette. And the boom operator is that person which in the sp section of the film after the 37 minute zombie movie, he's got a lot of problems going on in his life. And and I did wonder during the 37 minute film, why does he keep
speaker-2 (22:13.592)
Lot of long pauses.
speaker-0 (22:41.58)
Walking through frame. He walked through frame a couple of times with no purpose, just like past God, it's so hard to not talk about the next part without
speaker-1 (22:49.71)
Yeah. That's why I feel like we just gotta get through the first thirty seven minutes and then
speaker-0 (22:55.16)
So yeah, we gotta remember like this first 37 minutes is a zombie movie. So the boom operator walks by, camera follows him, lands on the AD who's smoking a cigarette. Behind him, the director of photography, who is now a zombie and raises up into frame, like right behind him, which very well done shot. Yeah. It's like you see he's the the whole frame is crowded by the AD. He raises up behind him.
The AD is startled by him and says, They painted you too, but the zombie quickly spits fluid into his face and takes a bite out of him. So this has sort of become a real zombie attack and a movie about zombies within the first, I don't know, five minutes, something like that. Mm-hmm. So now there is an actual zombie attack happening in this remote location with an ominous background where they're shooting a zombie movie. So that is
speaker-1 (23:30.114)
my god.
speaker-0 (23:51.544)
That's kind of where we are in the inception portion of this movie at the
speaker-2 (23:56.376)
think if that was all the movie was, that's a spoiler, but that's that doesn't even feel like a spoiler to know that there's a real zombie attack within their filming a zombie movie. With some films, that would be spoiler kind of information. With this film it's like that's just the setup. That's just barely anything.
speaker-1 (24:13.548)
Right.
speaker-0 (24:15.47)
Yeah, we're not giving anything away at this point. This is the very beginning of the thirty seven minute zombie move.
speaker-1 (24:20.428)
Mm-hmm. And keeping in mind that you're watching it knowing that this is a one take. It's kind of amazing that they've gotten this far. So some of those things like you're saying, Bart, with people walking in front of the camera doing certain things, you're like, it doesn't really detract because you're sitting there thinking, even if there was something that went wrong, they're just keeping going, you know? And so you're watching it as a film but also fascinated with the fact that they haven't cut yet. So
speaker-0 (24:45.41)
Yeah. And if if you're shooting a 37 minute take, you're not yelling cut unless someone does something terrible. So that kind of stuff, it happens, especially with the boom operator. He walks through a few different times. So the camera leaves them. And so we're at the mercy of this camera. sometimes it just as we're all taught when we're young, a camera move has to be motivated by something. And sometimes it's done brilliantly, and sometimes it's just done out of necessity. And so
Camera leaves them and goes back into the warehouse where the makeup artists and the actors have been watching all of this from inside the doorway. And then they recoil as a severed arm is tossed at them.
speaker-1 (25:25.154)
laughed out loud. Did anybody else laugh out loud? Yeah, that made me laugh out loud. Like I cackled. I don't know.
speaker-0 (25:28.266)
I laughed several times, yeah.
speaker-0 (25:33.698)
Their characters at the moment are in between takes on a break from shooting a zombie movie. So the arm gets tossed in, and the makeup artist asks if they've seen this prop before. And then the armless AD stumbles into the room and collapses on the floor and dies. And the and the makeup artist and the actors are confused. They think it's a joke until the makeup artist realizes that the AD is actually dead. And the actor co is holding him and checks his pulse and realizes.
He's holding a dead body. And this happens just as the crew member who is actually a zombie, the DP, lumbers inside the door and attacks them. They push him out of the door, and the three of them have a bit of a meltdown, just as the AD returns to life as now a member of the undead. The one armed AD is now a zombie and he's chasing them around. And there's a funny bit where Ko takes his arm and he's chasing him.
And it's almost like he's trying to retrieve his arm. So he runs through the factory with the arm, the zombie chases him, and he opens the door and throws the arm out the door. And then the AD like follows to get his arm back. So he locks him outside of the door. A lot of just cute little bits like this throughout the movie. Mm-hmm. So then the he locks the door and the three of them turn around to see that the director has been shooting all of this with a camera of his own the entire time. And he says, This is true filmmaking. So he knows there's a real zombie attack.
speaker-1 (26:42.006)
To get his arm back.
speaker-0 (27:00.29)
He's gonna take advantage of it and use it in this zombie movie and the camera's rolling and he'll be damned if a few people dying on his set makes it.
speaker-1 (27:08.344)
Difference. And you are already so annoyed by him.
speaker-0 (27:12.11)
Yeah, because he's such a dick.
speaker-1 (27:13.868)
He's such a dick and you're so annoyed by him. You're like, Okay, all right, cut it out. It's funny, especially knowing what we we'll find out later, but
speaker-0 (27:21.866)
And right away the makeup artist says, You didn't, did you? And the director tells her, that was a great guess. So they mentioned the bucket of blood being taken to the roof earlier and the ominous history. So she's already put two and two together. And she says, but it's just an urban legend. The sound guy is now back in there with them, and then he's trying to sneak out of the door as the director's shooting, and then he eventually does run outside. And
The director points at our camera, the only camera that we're watching this movie through, and says, Don't stop rolling, keep shooting. And so that was the first time I went, okay, so this is a found footage movie.
speaker-2 (28:04.684)
Yeah. That was definitely a turn that like up to that point, okay, we already knew we had seen a cameraman on screen because they're filming a movie, but the camera we've been watching through has never been ref the fourth wall has been broken. And at that moment he looks into the camera and he breaks the fourth wall and I was like, Well, that doesn't feel like that fits with the movie that we've been watching so far.
speaker-0 (28:28.502)
My first thought was it is found footage. So that camera person who's been following them without drawing any attention from any character so far has been in on it. You know? And so he says, keep rolling. So it opens up so many questions immediately, like, okay. So why why aren't any of them addressing this camera guy? It's like, do they just think he's doing behind the scenes footage and they've been told to not pay attention to them? So it was that first moment of okay, what the fuck's going on here?
speaker-1 (28:57.592)
Yeah.
speaker-0 (28:58.358)
And it affects everything I see later in this thirty-seven minute opening because then you assume that you are watching someone who's in on what's happening with the direct.
speaker-1 (29:07.734)
the Japanese title, Kamera O Tomeruna basically means don't stop the camera.
speaker-2 (29:15.426)
We're doing a lot of this like, you know, we gotta explain this plot of the first thirty seven minutes before we get to the rest. But this is you know, like everything we're saying about this right now, I think there is a completely different explanation about him looking at that camera in that moment. And I don't think it was intended to be this found footage kind of thing. No. But I I I don't think there's any way for us to know what it is. It but it definitely feels like that was different. It suddenly changed. Why did he look at the camera?
Now I need to figure out what caused that shift.
speaker-0 (29:47.712)
And I never stopped thinking about who was behind that camera for the rest of this 37-minute zombie opening that we had. Because there's a scene like coming up where he's the camera person is trapped in this long underground hallway, but the zombies aren't attacking the camera person. So I'm like, wait a second. So yeah, it it really was hard to let go of, but it everything gets explained later. So yeah. So he does, he yells out at the camera and then he runs outside.
Who found the sound guy being eaten and the actor still in zombie makeup, Ko inside, locks the door behind the director. Now the makeup artist tells the young actors to revive the thing. You chant a spell of blood. That's what the urban legend has said. So she grabs the hatchet and says, No one is coming to rescue them. Here there's a great trick as the director starts knocking on the door that he's been locked out of.
The camera starts going downstairs. And so as they're going across this long expanse from right to left behind this railing to go to the door, the camera shoots them as he's going downstairs. And then as they get to the door, comes up the other set of stairs to meet them. It's a great way to take that space and make it more interesting instead of just.
speaker-1 (31:06.914)
So cool. Yeah.
speaker-0 (31:13.592)
Panning across and it builds the tension too because as he's come up the stairs, he's shooting through the railing as everything's happening, the tension at the door. So camera gets back upstairs. The camera meets now and the two actors at the door where they open the door to let the director in. And he's holding the zombified body of the sound guy. And he yells, Action! And shoves the zombie inside with them.
the zombie attacks them as the director excitedly films them with his camera and now decapitates the zombie of the sound guy and then starts stomping his headless body. As the director films the real panic of the young actress's face, the zombie actor hits the director in the back of the head, knocking him out. There's a lot of knockouts in this with objects that I've like never really seen. Like, did he pick something up? Or did he just punch him in the back of the head? I think he just punches him in the back of the head.
speaker-1 (32:05.354)
Yeah, and you're also confused because the director has a camera, he's shooting them, they're talking, he's screaming the whole time, and you're like, So are we doing this without sound? What is I don't understand? You know, I mean, like there's just so many questions that you have, like watching it and meanwhile the makeup artist is just screaming, fuck, fuck, fuck, and all over and over and over again while she's killing this zombie and
the the director's screaming and filming and you're like, I don't what is going on? I love it, but what is happening? I mean, it's like you just gotta hang on for the ride. Yeah.
speaker-0 (32:47.15)
You definitely do. so the makeup artist now says, run to the car, I'm gonna smash them all. So the three of them leave the building, run outside to the car. We're followed by our camera, which as as we know now, it's obviously this camera is here for our purpose. And as they're running, the camera person wipes the blood from the lens that was splattered on it by the zombie.
speaker-2 (33:12.118)
my favorite that was the biggest laugh during this initial sequence for me was that and like now that we've already brought the camera operator in as a character and then when that blood got on the lens and I was like, how are they gonna film? How much is left? How are they gonna keep shooting through this blood? And when that hand came around and wiped it off, I thought that was great.
speaker-1 (33:34.935)
Yeah, it's good.
speaker-0 (33:36.056)
Since it was so clean, my assumption is that they just had a filter on top of it, a clear filter, and then pulled it off during the wipe. Because it was so clean after that. You wouldn't want to take the chance of shooting the rest of the 30 minutes of the 37 minutes with with a smear on it.
speaker-2 (33:52.632)
There was like a moment where after they'd cleaned it off where it seemed like you could still see a little bit of something, but then a few seconds later there's not, so yeah, I'm not sure.
speaker-0 (34:02.134)
Wonder if that was in post?
speaker-1 (34:06.094)
thought I read somewhere that that was like really a thing that happened and he just had to wipe it off.
speaker-0 (34:12.17)
I hope so. They dealt with it, they fixed it, and got their six thirty-seven minute take in the can. So yeah, so they get to the car and only discover, of course, that the keys are not there. And I think they said the keys are in the AD's bag, which is now our one armed zombie. And he returns, he's beating on the window, and the director shows up again with his camera and yells, Action. Which I think is funny because
There's really no need to yell action. The action is happening. He could he could just keep rolling. But every time he pops back up again, he yells action. Shinatsu fights with the one-armed zombie, but manages to grab his bag off his shoulder, which now says had the keys in it. The one armed zombie chases our actress into this long underground hallway, this concrete hallway, and then great shot at them.
running down this hallway and then there's a set of stairs at the other end of the hallway. She starts running up those stairs, but she's met at that doorway by the D P. Yeah. So she's met by the D P who's doing this very Shaolin martial arts type move with his hands the entire time.
speaker-1 (35:23.786)
Say it was at this moment, like when they get out of the car, and the camera is this is the part where the camera goes on its side and there's a struggle on the ground, right? And then all of a sudden they get up and start running, and you see the camera zooming in and out on this zombie as it's chasing. And at this moment, I almost paused it because I wanted to take a second to try to remember the scenes that I had just watched, because I was like.
They've never done that before. That's new. They haven't done that yet. I wonder why they haven't done that yet. Or have they done that yet? Like I started second guessing myself. Like I was like, maybe they've done that on these zombies, but I don't think so. I was confused watching it the first time because I thought that's that is a new technique. And I wonder why they just decided to do that.
speaker-2 (36:15.232)
It did stand out. I was searching for Bart you, you know, said something earlier about, you know, camera motivation and there should be I'm like, okay, why? What was the motivate? Why are they all of a sudden adding this? I like I was finding a a reason for it. I was like, you know, I don't know, something about the chase and the it's getting closer to it. Like there's a reason they started doing this here, but it is
speaker-1 (36:37.256)
obvious. I mean, even as and I'm not a filmmaker, I'm just a lowly actor. I even noticed it. Either way, there is a pointed difference in point of view, that there is a shift right here and it's it's noticeable in this first thirty seven minutes. And you find out later while
speaker-0 (36:55.278)
So they're in that long hallway. She's trapped between the two zombies. And then Ko shows up, knocks the one armed AD zombie to the ground. so he and Chinatsu run back through the tunnel all the way back the other way. And she says she's twisted her ankle. So he kind of helps her limp back up the stairs. Still chased by the one armed zombie. Chinatsu and our camera person run back to the building. Well, I guess Ko Chinatsu and our camera person.
They get back to the building. now lets them inside. And again, the zombie the zombies never attack the camera. So I I couldn't let it go. It's like, why don't they go after the camera? He's right there. It's it's like easy pickings. Back inside the main location of the water treatment plant. Chinatsu realizes that she's been bitten on the ankle and it wasn't a twist. What a twist! Now notices her try to hide it and asks if she's been bitten. she said it just could be a cut.
And now picks up the hatchet and says, just in case, and tries to kill Chinatsu, co-fights with her as Chinatsu runs away. And the camera leaves them and follows her as she runs outside, where she's met by Shaolin Zombie again, who keeps using the way of the fist as his
speaker-1 (38:12.398)
It's it's bananas.
speaker-0 (38:16.622)
It was odd in all incarnations of this movie. Now returns, she runs outside, she kicks both of the zombies in the stomach and knocks them down. She's more hell bent on killing Chinatsu than killing either one of those zombies. She'd rather kill the living person who's gonna turn into the zombie than either one of the actual zombies.
speaker-1 (38:20.632)
Yeah.
speaker-2 (38:39.842)
And I'd say the zombies here actually seem more interested in her for some unexplained yet reason than in chasing Shinatsu.
speaker-0 (38:50.06)
Yes. Shows up again. He yells action again. And now knees him in the groin and continues chasing Chenatsu to her rooftop where she's trapped until Ko shows up, fights with now, and the camera stays on Chenatsu for a very, very, very long time. A as she screams. And my first thought when I watch the thirty seven minutes, they're screaming so they can put effects on somebody.
speaker-1 (38:50.734)
Very clever.
speaker-0 (39:20.034)
The put practicals on somebody. We're killing time to then do a camera pan to reveal because it's one take, people. It's one take. Yeah. So it goes on ridiculously long. She even s kind of loses interest a couple of times before she picks it back up again.
speaker-1 (39:37.678)
It is funny, this whole sequence though, the makeup artist now, like when she realizes Shinatsu has been bit and wants to kill her, her face and her affectation and her acting is really scary. She's very deadpan and she's just very matter-of-fact. Her face doesn't really move, but she's talking and she's like, I guess we're gonna have to
Do this for a reason. Why does she turn into this all of a sudden?
speaker-2 (40:10.274)
And I didn't notice the first time watching on this long take of Shinatsu screaming, screaming, screaming. It's going on forever. I was so focused on the scream, that's all I really heard. I went back right before we started recording to kind of like watch a few moments again. We're still in this you know, original 37-minute movie with her screaming. You can hear in the background, bum. Yes, bum off camera.
speaker-1 (40:38.062)
Yes.
speaker-2 (40:40.106)
I didn't notice it the first time, but but it's there. You can't use it. And and you we don't we get why much later, but it's there from the beginning.
speaker-0 (40:42.414)
I didn't either.
speaker-0 (40:49.314)
That's great. I didn't notice.
speaker-1 (40:50.094)
I was gonna ask in fact, did you guys g go back and watch it a second or a third time before we recorded?
speaker-0 (41:00.062)
No, I just watched it last night. If I'd have watched it a few days ago, I think I probably would.
speaker-2 (41:04.568)
Same. I watched last night and I was like, I I wish I had given myself time to watch again. I planned to re watch just the first thirty seven minutes to this morning. Kind of ended up just like skimming through. I think I will watch it again. I wouldn't have thought coming in that this was gonna be something I'd ever watch again, but I think I think I might re watch it tonight.
speaker-1 (41:29.166)
And I think it is a great party movie and I think this is one of those movies that you wanna watch a second time and a third time, but I watched it Thursday night and was blown away. Like blown away. And so Friday night I watched the first thirty seven minutes again. I just wanted to get a good couple of viewings in because there's so much going on.
speaker-0 (41:51.282)
yeah, I'll definitely watch it again soon. so yeah, the she screams and screams and screams and screams from the rooftop until finally the camera pans over and we see that Ko has smashed now in the head with a hatchet. And so that we're taking this time to rig this hatchet to her head in real film life, taking time to cover her in blood and put a hatchet ahead. That was my assumption as I was watching her scream. And so it's like, okay, there it is. Yeah. So they took a little while to rig that.
Now Ko has killed her. He's covered in real blood now, and he runs over to console Chinatsu, but she pushes him away for his own protection and then runs back downstairs. And the camera follows her. She runs down the stairs to the ground where she sees the still bodies of our previous two zombies laying there. I guess now killed him with her kicks, or are they just sleeping? I think one of them is explained later, but one of them is not.
Shinatsu runs and hides in a storage shed and realized that she was not bitten and that it was not even blood. It was just something stuck to her ankle. Did you know what it was that was stuck to her ankle? I couldn't figure that out.
speaker-1 (43:00.202)
Yeah. I mean I assumed it was some sort of when they were making the film that it was something that makeup stuck on her.
speaker-2 (43:09.366)
I thought maybe like it was some of the fake blood from the film that they were making had gotten on her. It's hard. It's like am I trying to make the logic of which film am I trying to use the logic from to determine what that was? Yeah. But I thought there's all the fake blood from things that are different zombie attacks that have happened, some of it got onto her leg and dried. I don't know.
speaker-0 (43:35.534)
I guess we are to assume, since she's already covered in fake blood from the movie. I guess we're to assume that she did tweak her ankle. She saw the fake blood and thought, I've been bitten because it feels like that's from the point. So I guess that's what we're supposed to assume. Still a bit of a stretch, but hey, it's a zombie movie. What are you gonna do?
speaker-1 (43:53.966)
Do you want to go back and rewatch it again and see when it gets there?
speaker-0 (43:57.548)
Yeah, I think we probably won't see it until she notices it. I think that'll be the first time that that we see it. So she's crouching in the storage shed and two zombie legs walk in and just stand there. And we we never see anything but the legs. So we don't know if if the zombie has spotted her, but she covers her mouth trying not to scream. The zombie legs are right in front of her, and then the zombie legs turn and walk away. And so she runs back outside and sees Co. on the rooftop.
So she goes back upstairs to this very house, upstairs, downstairs, upstairs, downstairs, up after
speaker-2 (44:32.462)
Luckily finding an axe on the way just by chance.
speaker-0 (44:36.544)
I didn't notice this in the 37 minute. I didn't even see it in her hand. And so I just assumed when she got to the roof, she pulled it out of now's head. That was another little pleasant surprise later. And a lot of running, a lot of shaky handheld as DPs fall down with the camera. You see in the real behind the scenes footage during the credits, that that happened a lot. A lot of the camera people running and falling down. and that's just part of being a 37 minute take. She goes back up the stairs to the roof where she finds Co.
And he turns around and she sees that he's now a real zombie, even though he's been in zombie makeup the whole time. And now but now the zombie makeup is better. And just like the opening shot of the movie, he lumbers towards her, her arms out. And then now pops up between them almost like a very evil dead type thing, with the hatchet still in her head and says, What's that? And
Chenatsu screams and now screams and then immediately just falls out of frame. No explanation. Maybe she just fainted, but she's just gone out of the frame. So Chenatsu pulls the hatchet from her head and holds it out towards Ko. So now it's exactly like the opening of the film. And the director shows up, camera in hand, tells her that she's nailing it and he's finally getting the performance he wanted. He says, make it the last motherfucking take.
She tells Code to stop. And just like at the beginning of the movie, he freezes for a moment. She lowers the axe, reaches out for his hand, but then he starts coming towards her again. So when he starts coming towards her, just like at the beginning of the movie, she says, I love you. And then she chops off his head. And the director yells at her that she's not following the script. She screams, raises the axe, and chases the director who falls off one of the levels of the rooftop to the lower level.
speaker-1 (46:24.386)
And this is definitely that moment, Noah, where I'm sure Lindsay and I were both thinking the same thing and we were like, This is all that's left. We got a lot to go here. This seems like a resolution real fast. What else have we got left to do?
speaker-0 (46:40.088)
Now you see my confusion several years ago when why I thought it was just the end of the movie. Especially when the credits roll. Right. So he falls down this other level on this rooftop. She jumps down with him. So we only see we don't see where he's laying. We just from the from the shot, we see her standing up and then she starts just going medieval on his ass with this hatchet and blood just squirting all over her and just spraying her and spraying her. She done gone blood simple.
speaker-1 (47:08.846)
Yeah, she's raising up, screaming and bearing down on him with that hatchet, and you just see her up and then gone. And then every time she lifts up, blood just sp squirts everywhere. And then she screams again and goes back down and comes up. Blood squirts. Like it's just the coolest sequence. I think it's really cool.
speaker-0 (47:29.228)
Now drenched in blood, just covered in blood, hatchet still in hand. Chinatsu walks across the rooftop to where there's a giant pentagram drawn in blood. And she stands in the center of it and looks up to the sky. And the camera goes up another level, kind of shakily. It's not like I'm so drone conditioned now or expect it to be a have a certain look. Because I my first thought was a 37 minute. Obviously, you're not gonna have a crane or a
of any kind. So camera comes up another level, very well done. And it was almost like the stairwell shot earlier, where before you know it, it's it's about a floor higher. And she looks, turns around, looks up at the sky. She's standing in that pentagram circle, and and we hear someone say, Okay, cut. Fade out. So that's our 37 minute one take zombie move.
speaker-1 (48:23.166)
The title of the movie comes on the screen, correct? So yeah, I mean she turns around, you see one cut of the dead.
speaker-2 (48:25.782)
Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-2 (48:31.63)
And then the credits roll.
speaker-0 (48:33.624)
And that's why five years ago I hip stop and went about my day because that was the credits. And I thought, well, that was a very entertaining wonder. And I thought that was that.
speaker-1 (48:42.488)
And the only reason I didn't get up and turn it off is because I was so puzzled. I was just like, What did I just watch?
speaker-0 (48:49.336)
Some people that I read fucking hated this 37 minutes and were and this movie was salvaged by everything that happens after. I read half a dozen people say that. Some people said the opposite. Some people said, the zombie movie, the one take zombie movie was what I wanted to see. Everything else after it was cute, but was just fluff. And I'm kind of in the middle.
speaker-1 (49:12.494)
What say you, Noah?
speaker-2 (49:15.458)
Yeah, I am in the middle, I think. I enjoyed each of them in different ways. I'm a bigger fan of the the rest of the movie. it it's what made me I would say I loved this film. I would have said I liked that at this point, thirty seven minutes in. You know, there's a lot to appreciate about the you know, the challenge of the film making and how they got this all in one take and
We we could sit and have a conversation about that thirty-seven minute film. It'd be a great talk, but I really loved what happens after this.
speaker-1 (49:51.116)
But nothing that happens after this works without the first thirty seven
speaker-2 (49:55.446)
minute. Right. And I tried to think about could they have could it have been presented in a different like it wouldn't have worked if we knew from the beginning, if we had started with the second part and then let up and then seen the first thirty seven minutes with that context, it it doesn't work as well.
speaker-1 (50:18.21)
Whether or not the first thirty-seven minutes work for you before you know the twist, I think is the absolute key question for this film. But I think it's all brilliantly intentional. I mean, I can see how somebody might, you know, bail before the movie really reveals itself for what it's really doing. But I think the first act being intentionally awkward is what kind of makes it work.
speaker-0 (50:44.278)
I a couple of times almost gave up in what comes next because it did at times feel like a Japanese sitcom. And especially with the canned music choices, some of them were just bad. But if you make it to the end, there's so many payoffs that make this such a unique film and a very wholesome film as well, with kind of kind of heartfelt.
speaker-2 (50:59.886)
Wasn't a big fan of the music, yeah.
speaker-0 (51:13.538)
But here we are. Here we are at the crossroads. So the very next shot after we see the credits and we fade to black, we fade into a city skyline. And the caption on screen reads, one month ago. On this rooftop is the small film crew. And we see the director from the previous 37 minutes. We found his name Higarashi. And now he's all smiles and he's he's meek. And so there's this TV exec comes up to him and asks if he can have a chat with him.
And so he meets with a couple of execs where we see he's not confident at all. In fact, he says his motto is fast, cheap, but average. So that's that's how he he describes his work.
speaker-1 (51:57.132)
Funny as the line.
speaker-0 (51:59.281)
with pride, he says it.
speaker-1 (52:00.75)
That's how I describe myself when I go on a date.
speaker-2 (52:05.484)
At least he's self aware. Yeah.
speaker-0 (52:07.158)
Yes, he is. so the execs tell him they want him to do a zombie film. And the plot is that while they're shooting a zombie film, they get attacked by real zombies, and it's gonna be a wonder. And also, it's gonna be broadcast live. And as Higarashi says, one kato, such an absurd idea that he thinks they're joking and he laughs and they say, no, we're we're serious here. This is we want to do this. So then we get a very high glossy credit sequence.
So now the second part of the movie starts with a credit sequence for all of our actors for this next part.
speaker-2 (52:45.59)
It feels more like an opening sequence. Yes. It's the opening sequence for the rest of the film, but we've already seen the end credits. So it is it's a weird Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0 (52:53.794)
I don't think I've ever seen that before.
A lot of mind fuckery going on in this film. So we come out of that credit sequence to a self-defense training tape. Hey guys, what is he doing? This guy's teaching teaching pum pum to get to break out of these holds, and we see that it's now practicing at home, and then she asks her husband, who is Higarashi, why they want him to direct.
This zombie film, and he says because everyone else had turned it down, she tells him she knows he didn't have the guts to say no. She is very dismissive of him. She you can tell she has very little respect for him. then their teenage daughter Mao comes in, she runs through the room and now asks Higarashi to spy on her today.
speaker-1 (53:47.338)
Is this where we need to talk about her t shirt? Do we save that for later? I'm obsessed with her multiple T shirts. We go from what do you go from Scarface to Taxi Driver to The Shining? But yeah, I mean I think you're just like, okay. They're actually married and they have like a daughter. Okay, so this is maybe like a movie. Maybe I'm about to watch a movie.
speaker-0 (53:49.824)
Her multiple T shirts.
speaker-1 (54:16.35)
Yeah. I mean like you're s you're still sort of confused. but s at least some pieces start coming together somewhat, but then you're like, I wonder how they end up in the movie, the other movie.
speaker-0 (54:28.218)
That's what I enjoyed about this because your boy I dare you to not have an active brain as this is happening because then you just start thinking, Okay, what's what how are we gonna get to this point? I don't understand because they weren't acting like they were a couple and she had a lot of negative things to say. So you really just start trying to like, Where are we going here?
speaker-2 (54:45.642)
Immediately once you now get this premise of understanding we're gonna get the story of how that film we just watched was made, you start to I can already piece together how some of this is coming together. But this her character now being the wife and watching the palm self-defense tape, that was one of the things that
I was really thinking a lot, is like, how does that make it into the final film? Like how does this palm thing that she's watching that has nothing to do with the film that her husband has been talking about, how does that get worked in?
speaker-1 (55:24.586)
Your brain definitely like you're saying, Bart, your brain just keeps rolling through it, trying to figure it out, trying to piece it all together while you're watching.
speaker-0 (55:32.398)
And I did have to stop to rewind a few times because I would I found myself like going the same thing. Like, how would that end up in the movie they shot about the self-defense? And then you kind of come back and say, I've missed like a minute of of dialogue. So I had to keep going back and be like, okay, just watch. Just watch. so we cut to a small film crew outside, and we see that Mal, their daughter, is trying to force a child to use real tears instead of
a bottle of fake tears and she calls the mom the kid's mom an old hag gets fired from the film crew just as Higarashi shows up to spy on her and sees his daughter get fired and talks to the director and and he's just saying you know she just doesn't work well with others and so back at home now and Higarashi are watching the commercial on television watching the commercial that opened the sequence from the rooftop.
where they also used fake tears as well. is this movie sponsored by big tear company? So you s so they're watching this on TV of this I don't know, was it a I guess it was a commercial of some kind? It kind of felt like a commercial. I don't yeah, they didn't really say what it was. But then his daughter says, hey, can we turn this off? And now says, of course we can.
speaker-2 (56:39.118)
Big tears.
speaker-0 (57:01.492)
And I kind of focused in on him to see what his reaction was, like, they don't they won't even watch my work. But you could tell he was unfazed and and used to it. So his daughter sits down on the couch and changes the channel and she's watching this interview with her favorite actor, which I didn't recognize the actor in this interview without the zombie makeup on.
speaker-2 (57:22.904)
That was a t another one of the challenges of this is seeing everybody in the costume and makeup of the first film. A lot of them I had trouble recognizing them with different hair and makeup and wardrobe.
speaker-0 (57:34.914)
Yeah, I got very confused several times. So it's her favorite actor, and he's being interviewed. And he says his next film is a horror film, but he can't talk about it. And at the same time, we see Higarashi looking through the call list for the zombie movie that he's been hired to do. And he sees that his daughter's favorite actor is Ko from the zombie movie that we've already seen. I don't think I learned their names. The the actors playing the actors.
playing the actors. I don't think I learned their names. So we'll just it's Co. from our original zombie film.
speaker-2 (58:09.59)
Yeah. We don't need to add any more confusion to this conversation. No
speaker-0 (58:13.602)
We don't for the audience or for me. So we cut to the table read for One Cut of the Dead, the movie which we just saw. Shinatsu and Co. are both there. The crew that we never really got to know, other than them quickly turning into zombies, are there. So, like we see the DP that turned into the zombie, we see the AD that turned into the zombie, and we see that they are actors playing these characters.
The sound guy is there as well. We see they're all pretty much pre Madonna's. The sound guys demanding a certain type of water. Chenatsu is saying that she can't have fake vomit on her. And and Ko keeps wanting to talk about arts and and then anyway, just a difficult cast of characters, which is opposite opposite of what the characters that we just witnessed in the in the 37-minute film. Everyone's flipped. So the actors that we saw.
speaker-1 (58:59.458)
Hate actors.
speaker-0 (59:07.17)
Are now kind of the pricks, and the prick director is kind of this meekish sweet guy. Once my brain started understanding what was happening, then I started just going all in. Even though, like I said, the music was bad, some of the lighting and some of the scene direction was much like a sitcom. I didn't care. The woman playing the makeup artist in the movie that was now, as we saw it, is a different actress.
She shows up to the to the table read with her baby, and her baby screams throughout the entire script read. And so they they take a break. Tough scene. Tough scene to process. and also a little rough in in its comedy. we see that the actor playing the DP is a very comical drunk. In fact, he's got a bottle of booze with him at the table read.
speaker-1 (59:54.016)
Mm-hmm.
speaker-0 (01:00:03.4)
And both of our leads, as I said, are assholes. But we quickly leave there and back at home, Nal and Mal are sitting on the couch and we find out that Nal used to be an actress. And she sa she says she's running out of hobbies. And Mao encourages her mom to try acting again, but Mao says she gets too dedicated to it. I wonder if that'll come in later.
speaker-1 (01:00:31.766)
I don't know.
speaker-0 (01:00:32.846)
She tells Mal that her favorite actor who plays co in the movie we've witnessed is going to be in her father's zombie movie. So rehearsals begin. Shinatsu asks Higarashi if she can use crying drops in the first scene. And he says, Well, you can you not cry on your own? And she says that she would rather just use the drops. There's a scene where Higarashi is sitting on a park bench with the actor.
Playing the DP, who was drunk at the table read. And he's saying he's not drinking because he lost his daughter because of his drinking. And he shows Higarashi some photos of his daughter, and he said, That's why I'm trying to not drink and stay sober. he starts crying and Higarashi says, Don't cry. And then we cut immediately to now in Higarashi's house, where he's in his bedroom looking at old photos of him and his daughter crying.
uncontrollably and all the photos of are her with a camera, you know, you could tell he nurtured her to become the director that she wants to be. And so while he's in there crying, now comes in and says, can I ask a favor? And then we cut. So we cut to on location of the first day of One Cut of the Dead. so we're in production mode at this same spooky location where we just witnessed the thirty seven minute film. They're setting up the production offices and
working on blocking and we see that now and Mao have come to set. I assume that would be the the favor she was asking. Mostly so Mao can just gawk at her crush, the actor playing Coke. Higarashi gets called to the production office to find out that the actors playing the director and the makeup artist have been in a car accident and they can't make it. I was very confused at this point. That I this is one of those who are we talking about
speaker-1 (01:02:07.598)
Okay.
speaker-0 (01:02:29.89)
Yeah. And so I had to watch it a couple of times. So Karuka and Soda were the actors playing the makeup artist and the director. And once I realized, like, that's why they're okay. Somebody suggests canceling the whole thing. The exec says, no, we're not doing that, but we're those actors, we're canceling those actors. So Higarashi suggests he plays the director in the movie and he they put him in the shirt that we see from the 37 minute film. And so he's going to play the director. I am going to need a drink after this.
So the director of the 37 minute zombie film that we witnessed is also playing the director in the film as an actor out of necessity. So then someone says, Well, who's going to play the makeup artist? And then Mal grabs her mom's arm and raises in the air and says, My mom is an actor and she knows all the lines. But Higarashi vetoes this and says to his daughter, You have no idea what mom was like. I suffered so much for it.
Ha ha ha.
speaker-1 (01:03:31.276)
Yeah, I mean they both look vehemently against this. You know, they both are like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's like they both know what this means, but they're like, hey, we're two hours away from anywhere and we've got to roll.
speaker-0 (01:03:46.456)
And what did they say? They got they roll in an hour or something. So it was time was of the essence.
speaker-1 (01:03:50.742)
Yeah, they did a good job of sort of explaining some of that.
speaker-0 (01:03:54.518)
If I haven't made it clear enough, they're all there and already about to roll. At least it appears to be their first day on set, and they are going to live stream this this day and now within an hour of the live stream. So we've got shots that we get them a little later. There's a room where a room full of executives are gonna watch the live stream. And we also have this makeshift little control room in the production office where they have this
Cute little mixing board, which is gonna be their board for the stream. Yeah. So they're gonna broadcast this thing live. So yeah, they are both against the idea of now playing the makeup artist, but the very next scene, there they are in full wardrobe. She will play the makeup artist, Higarashi will play the director. When we see them in costume, they're five minutes away from broadcasting, they're ready to roll.
So the stream starts, and we see that Higarashi was acting all along as he played the director, not some manic trying to get real performance on tape, but he was just being the director and doing a really good job of it. We see the scene from the beginning of the movie where he's yelling at Shinatsu about the performance, but he starts improvising immediately and telling the actors exactly how he feels about them. So he's this meek, sheepish guy.
who finally has an opportunity to tell these two prima donna actors how he feels about them and so that's why he told her she was fake and why Co has been busting his hump since rehearsals. And so he gets to say all of this and throw them around. so he gets to be the person that he wishes he could be.
speaker-1 (01:05:31.81)
And it's at this moment that you realize that the bad acting, quote unquote, in the opening is actually good acting. So you're like, all right, I I'm all I'm all in. You know, it's a it's a really kind of smart layer. There is a difference between their acting in this scene versus, you know, as the 37 minutes go on. it's tough. It's like asking somebody who knows how to sing in a film, sing but
Pretend that you can't sing.
speaker-0 (01:06:03.298)
And just to clarify, we are now live streaming the production of the film that we've already seen. Just for our audiences. So now we are witnessing it. The makeup's a little better, the the costuming is a little different, the performance is a little different. So they're basically reenacting the scenes from the previous film that we've seen, but it is that film. Okay. I hope that is now clear to everyone. It can get a little muddy.
speaker-2 (01:06:10.36)
Yeah.
speaker-1 (01:06:10.872)
Mm-hmm.
speaker-0 (01:06:29.858)
Then we get some behind the scenes of what we've seen before. So the actor playing the DP has drank a whole bottle of sake and he passes out outside one minute before his cue. the actors playing Ko and Chinatsu, and now are told to improvise the scene that they did earlier when they were sitting upstairs after the director's freak out and
That's why that awkward scene in one cut occurred when Ko asks now if she has any hobbies because they're trying to stall for time because the zombie's outside drunk. And so the first thing he thinks of is, Do you have any hobbies?
speaker-2 (01:07:11.928)
Someone runs in with a sign, holding up a sign, letting the actors know that they need to fill time. And there's this long awkward pause and then a question about hobbies. And that's how POM finds its way into film.
speaker-1 (01:07:23.758)
Yeah, yeah.
speaker-0 (01:07:25.784)
Yep. And this will happen several times from here on out. There will be a a PA with a message board holding it up for the actors to stall or bring a zombie back in so that way they can keep rolling because this thing is slight live stream. It's a wonder, just like the one we've witnessed. And we see this device several times to explain awkward moments in the movie where they're r having to stop and read what they need to do.
speaker-2 (01:07:50.19)
For me, I think this is where the film really started paying off to me. there had already, you know, you'd gotten a little bit of the like we talked about, the director's performance in the first scene, we now understand it. But this that awkwardness of that scene the first time around, getting an explanation here, it was like the aha moment of now I finally understand what's happening in this movie. And the
getting to see for the rest of it really just being a series of here's why that was weird and here's why that other thing happened that didn't make sense when you saw it at first. Every mistake that we saw was was part of the plan. And that makes it even more impressive that even the mistakes were choreographed.
speaker-0 (01:08:40.448)
This is where I started like going, that's adorable. that from here on out, my inner dialogue is just like, that's so cute.
speaker-1 (01:08:52.725)
Yeah. If I were a fly on the wall in your apartment in Portland, I bet I would have heard a lot of this. right on.
speaker-0 (01:08:59.278)
A little more excited? right on. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of high voice. Right on.
speaker-1 (01:09:05.099)
Right on.
Yeah, we're on. I bet I would have heard that a few times.
speaker-0 (01:09:12.91)
And this was probably my first like real right on, because this is where we see that the very first zombie attack from the 37-minute one cut, where the the zombified DP attacks the AD who's outside smoking. So he's hammered drunk, the actor playing the DP. So the director has to run out there and hold him up. So that one shot that I mentioned earlier that was very well done shot, how he just pops up behind him.
So they explained it as the reason he pops up behind him is because the director was holding him up and he's so drunk that he raises him up into frame and forces him to attack by putting his arms to attack the actor playing the AD. And then the zombified DP spits the fluid into the AD's face and immediately as the camera leaves them and runs away. He's like, What is this liquid? So it wasn't planned. He just threw up in his face.
speaker-1 (01:10:08.812)
He just threw up in his face. But this guy, he's like acting so well and he's like and he's like flipping out. Meanwhile, they're changing, taking his shirt off, putting the prosthetic on him where his arm is supposed to be cut off. They're they're, you know, putting blood on the little prosthetic and the and all the while he's just standing there crying. You know, it's it is so well done.
speaker-0 (01:10:34.804)
I loved it. I loved it. And we get so many gems like this from here on out. In fact, the very next scene is that scene where the director has run inside. We see him for the first time with the camera where where he has pushed the zombie into the room with the makeup artist and the actors. So now we're inside the in that scene. And as we referenced earlier in the thirty seven minute film.
The sound guy is like always trying to leave the room, the actor trying to leave the room. Right. And we find out that's because he'd gotten the wrong water. And he said he had said earlier that a certain type of water gives him diarrhea and he accidentally drank it. So he's gotta take a shit. So he's trying to get out of the room, and Higarashi grabs him and, you know, tells him to, you know, stop trying to run and asks him what he's doing, but he's trying to get out that door.
And those he finally gets out the door and rides outside. And this is where Higarashi looks at the camera and says, Don't stop rolling. And then we cut to the control room because it wasn't in the script. And they ask, where is he looking? 'Cause he looked at the camera.
speaker-2 (01:11:39.87)
We haven't talked a lot about this, but Higurashi, like, he's this, like, you know, we we had his quote about being what, fast, cheap, and average. This is just a job to him. He's not trying to accomplish a grand vision. He just, he's getting paid and he wants to get it done. And I think his greatest fear in all this is they're gonna stop, you know, it's gonna get cut. We're not gonna be able to finish it. And like, that's his like, I've gotta let them know, do not stop.
This is live, do not stop. We're going no matter what.
speaker-1 (01:12:13.602)
what you see in the control room is they are getting ready to put the place card up yeah that says we'll be back with you in a moment. And so he knows his instincts as a director, he knows it's off the grid. They are off in crazy town and I guarantee you they're back in that control room. They're about to cut. And at that moment is when he looks at the camera and says that it is a meaningful moment, right? And his instinct as a director is quite right that they were
In fact, getting ready to go off the air.
speaker-0 (01:12:45.218)
Yeah. He runs outside and asks the actor playing the sound guy what's wrong. And he says, It's coming out. And he goes, What's coming out? And he goes, The poop.
speaker-1 (01:12:55.198)
The poop. The poop.
speaker-0 (01:12:57.614)
And right after that they also address that weird dialogue from the movie where Nal keeps asking everyone if they're okay. It's like, Are you okay? Are you okay? I'm fine. Are you okay? Then she says again to Chinatsu, Are you okay? And she's like, Yeah, you just asked me
speaker-2 (01:13:12.983)
Yeah, yeah.
speaker-1 (01:13:13.662)
Yes. Yeah, you just asked me and just yeah, you already asked.
speaker-0 (01:13:17.174)
So the reason again, it's a PA has come in and has written for them that they're stalling to wait on the actor pulling the sound guy's got to come back in. So they're just continuing to stall once again. And since he's supposed to be in the scene, the sound guy, this is where they're just about to go to that police standby card, the photo of the polo bear. Yeah. But Higarashi's daughter, Mal, she's in the control room and she stops them from leaving the broadcast and she tells them bring back.
The sound guy as a zombie. So that's when they let the actors know also like the daughter becomes the director at this point and starts telling him how to adjust the scenes based on the certain other pages in the script. We cut to outside and the sound guy, the actor playing the sound guy is taking the shit in the weed.
speaker-1 (01:14:06.24)
He's like, I'm sorry, the restroom's too far away.
speaker-0 (01:14:08.942)
So the makeup artist comes out with makeup and the director, Higarashi, says, there's no time, put the makeup on him here. And so she starts applying the zombie makeup to him while he's squatting in the bushes taking a shit.
speaker-1 (01:14:22.262)
Is it an idiot? He's kind of crying too.
speaker-0 (01:14:25.198)
I've had bad dreams like this. So we didn't mention earlier that the actual AC and the actual DP, not actors, but the people shooting the movie, she keeps pitching this idea to zoom in and out on the zombie. And he's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. so this is that scene where it happens. So the camera falls to the ground at one point, the which we've talked about a couple of times. So the camera's laying on
speaker-1 (01:14:50.516)
And he clearly is dealing with some back issues.
speaker-0 (01:14:53.11)
I didn't know. I that was my next question. I didn't understand what was wrong with him and why he couldn't get up.
speaker-2 (01:14:57.974)
In the like kind of second part of the movie, after we've seen the 37 minutes, before we get to the making of, there's several little moments with the director of photography and the AC where he's talking about like, doing a one-take handheld, this is gonna kill me.
speaker-1 (01:15:14.668)
He keeps having to sit down and gr he sits down, he grabs his back a few times and she's like, Are you sure? And he's like, Not a chance.
speaker-2 (01:15:22.222)
She wants her chance to do it. This is one of my favorite payoffs. So she's been, you know, she's pitching him during the rehearsals. You should do this with a Zoom. He hates the idea. She's looking for her chance. And he seems like kind of maybe a little washed up sort of director of photography that's holding on to his like, I'm not gonna let the new person have their day. So to me, one of the most satisfying payoffs.
speaker-0 (01:15:50.36)
So the scene that Noah's talking about. So when the D P goes to the ground with the camera, he hurts his back and he's laying there and the camera's on for so long.
speaker-2 (01:15:59.682)
Just laying on the ground. This is the moment that you thought was there for for them to do a cut. The camera's just laying on the ground for what, a minute? Well
speaker-1 (01:16:08.334)
And there's some fighting happening in front of it, right? She's fighting with a zombie.
speaker-0 (01:16:13.102)
But they leave frame for after a bit and it's empty. And then it cuts to the execs in the room and they're like looking around like like is something supposed to happen here? And so then we go back and see that the DP's hurt his back. And so the AC who's been pitching on letting her shoot something the whole movie, she picks up the camera and takes off running, and so she continues with the action. So that's why they explain that that why the shot the camera landed on the ground.
speaker-2 (01:16:39.118)
But the moment she gets the camera, she picks it up and she's running it, immediately the zooms are there. This was the question Lindsay and I had the watching the beginning of it. Why are there sud they haven't been using zooms before this moment? Getting to see that it was because, you know, new camera operator comes in, they're trying their thing. I was happy for her.
speaker-1 (01:16:57.994)
She got her day. And you do see a shift, right? You see a shift in style.
speaker-2 (01:17:04.718)
It's definitely the most pronounced or the most noticeable here because it's the first time it happens. But I think there continues to be moments where she zooms, not the in and out, but like, I'm gonna zoom in a little closer on this. She's definitely making use of the zoom, whereas the original director of photography never did. I haven't watched the behind the scenes of the behind the scenes that you keep referencing. So I haven't seen all of that, but I suppose both of the people we're talking about as the director of photography
And the AC were actually actors. And I suppose there was a whole different person who was actually operating the camera the whole time. And so whoever that person was is having to from here on in the movie change their style of shooting.
speaker-1 (01:17:49.218)
Which makes you kind of realize as a movie as a whole, it's actually celebrating it and it's almost like a love story to the crew, right? And to what it takes to do all of this stuff that's happening behind the scenes, these people that never really get their shining day.
speaker-2 (01:18:08.91)
And I think that's why it's so it was important character wise that the director of the film describes himself as average. Because I think if it had been about, look how amazing this awesome director who makes all the right choices all the right times, then it's not about the crew. And it's not and I think I think you're right. It's so easy for people to point at a great film and give all the credit to a director. But this movie was like
No, this guy was just an average director. It was all these people behind the scenes that don't usually get celebrated, that stepped up in ways. And I I think you're right. I think it really is a celebration of the struggle of filmmaking and the unsung jobs of what's happening behind the scenes.
speaker-0 (01:18:54.946)
They're celebrating it, but they're also doing it. I've never felt a more stone soup mentality in any endeavor like I have in low budget film where the whole crew is coming up with ideas to save your ass. And yeah, it's magic in a bottle. And that's what and that's what this movie represents. Phoenix scene, the mom playing now, which I never learned her name, but we're so I will continue to call her now. is she starting to lose herself in the role as we have been warned.
she slaps the lead actor as he's arguing with her husband. And the daughter says, tells the people in the control room that she had to quit acting because she would get too involved in the role and one time had almost broke an actor's arm or did break an actor's arm. Yeah. So she goes rogue, just like in the movie. So sh when she runs out and they s they send the actors as zombies to stop her. So when she kicks the two zombies in that scene.
speaker-1 (01:19:42.07)
my god.
speaker-0 (01:19:54.082)
They're actually trying to stop her from going rogue. And she just kicks them to the ground. and that's the scene we get in the 37-minute movie. So they get to the roof, the lead actor playing co is trying to stop her, and there's that scene where I thought it was the I guess the reason I didn't think it was odd when I watched the film the first time is because I thought she was saying, You're about to break my arm.
speaker-1 (01:19:55.694)
They're trying to stop.
speaker-0 (01:20:22.22)
I thought it was her, but it was him. So when they're fighting, he says, You're about to break my arm. So that didn't have the greatest payoff for me that it would have had I known it was him doing it. I would have known immediately. So he's she's about to break another actor's arm as they as they struggle during this scene. So we get to that overly long shot of Chinatsu screaming on the rooftop. And we see the reason behind it is because
They were fighting with the mom from not killing someone in real life. So the daughter and the husband are struggling with her and the husband chokes her unconscious. Apologizes as she falls to the rooftop unconscious. So
speaker-1 (01:21:01.386)
And apologizes.
speaker-1 (01:21:06.926)
Sorry, honey.
speaker-2 (01:21:07.778)
She's difficult to take down because she's knows the self defense stuff and she's
speaker-1 (01:21:13.454)
That's why you're the bum.
speaker-0 (01:21:15.796)
Yeah.
speaker-2 (01:21:17.176)
So we get a few of those palms before she finally gets taken out. By two of them. It takes two of them to take her down.
speaker-0 (01:21:23.438)
So those are the palms that you you can hear if you listen back, which I will definitely go back and listen now to to hear those. Yeah.
speaker-1 (01:21:30.698)
That that may be my favorite payoff moment, this little sequence here. Well
speaker-0 (01:21:35.146)
Another great shot from the executives watching it too. One guy turns to the woman who was behind all of this and he says, Isn't this too long? Like this the scene's going on way too long.
speaker-2 (01:21:45.87)
She's not even watching. She's like looking at her phone.
speaker-0 (01:21:48.75)
So right before this, so this is when Shinatsu is cowering in that storage building, and then a zombie we see the zombie's legs walk in, and she's trying to stifle her scream. We see that it's a PA yet again with zombie makeup on their legs with cue cards telling her to pick up the hatchet that they've placed outside. So she leaves the storage building, and as she's walking outside, she finds the hatchet that they've placed for her. What does she say?
speaker-1 (01:22:18.666)
Lucky me. She says an a yeah, an axe. Lucky me. So they get
speaker-0 (01:22:18.894)
Lucky me.
The crane jib piece of shit that they're using for a crane falls off the roof and breaks, and that was gonna be their final shot. So in the control room, the exec says the we'll we'll just do something else. We'll scrap that shot. And Higarashi gets into it with the executive and they're arguing about the shot. And the executive says it's a TV show, it's not art. Your average will do. Wow.
So his motto has bit him in the ass at the moment, but his daughter says, wait, can we get everybody on set? So we're back at the roof and we're building to the final shot. And as Chenatsu and Co. are having that scene on the rooftop that we'd seen previously, we see all of the crew and the cast that are wrapped forming a human pyramid.
over by that final shot where the pentagram is and they're struggling, they keep falling down and they climb back up and they keep falling down.
speaker-1 (01:23:24.588)
Yeah, you see them they're building the pyramid, right? While the director is shooting this is the second sequence we see of Ko coming at Shinatsu and her saying, Stop, and then he stops and then gumm again, right? And so, but he's on the ground looking up at them, filming, and he's seeing them fall from the pyramid. He's got to get the timing right.
So that the pyramid is built by the time she walks over there. So he's telling them, Stop the action. So she's saying, Stop and then he stops. And then he's telling them, Go, go, go again, go again when he's ready for them because they're they're successfully building this pyramid, to become the crane.
speaker-0 (01:24:11.21)
Yeah, the scene I was forgetting was it's when Ko and Chinashi were having that scene and then now pops up in between them that which we we talked about how odd that was that she just pops up with the axe at her head and then falls back down again. This time we see that her husband has tackled her and pulled her out of the frame. And so that's what that's why she's out of the frame. So she's still confused about what's going on because she just came to from being still unconscious.
speaker-1 (01:24:21.655)
Yeah, yeah.
speaker-2 (01:24:39.79)
And sees the Suban Pyramid and doesn't know f what that's about.
speaker-0 (01:24:43.22)
Exactly. So then we get that last scene where Chunatsu and Hirogashi she where she hacks him to bits, stands up, walks over to the pentagram
speaker-1 (01:24:43.692)
What's going on?
speaker-1 (01:24:55.63)
That's another satisfying moment because now you see the other side of her going down on that axe and you're watching the person throw the blood every time she goes up and then comes back down and then she goes up and you so you're watching the other side of it now. I love it.
speaker-2 (01:25:14.21)
That shot was really interesting for me. I've never made a horror film or anything with blood, you know, and like seeing the mechanics of how that shot happened and it was like a bucket of blood and a tube and she's sucking it up and spitting it out through the tube was that was really a fascinating that's that's how that happened.
speaker-1 (01:25:34.218)
It is fascinating and you're watching this person go around the entire set. Every time somebody's head is hacked off, every time something happens, you're watching her spit through that, spit that blood out at them. And the sound is great. You can hear it splatter. You know, you can hear it hit these actors' faces.
speaker-0 (01:25:53.978)
it's a blast. It's so sticky though. my God, it's so sticky. So she's standing in the middle of the pentagram. We get that shot where she looks up into the sky, and then we see the human pyramids. They start passing the camera up to the top, and Mao is now at the very top. And she's holding the camera above her head, trying to get that.
speaker-1 (01:25:57.384)
it's so sticky.
speaker-2 (01:26:12.92)
Shots.
speaker-0 (01:26:15.466)
Sitting on her dad's shoulders, then they get the shot, and then we we hear cut again, which was confusing the first time. So now we hear the cut of them saying cut to this, the broadcast is done, the executives are happy, they think it went off without a hitch.
speaker-1 (01:26:32.44)
That's the funniest part, right? Standing up and going, my God, I was so worried some bad stuff would happen, but it went off without a hitch. I was like, shut up. Shut up.
speaker-0 (01:26:42.35)
Mal walks over to her father, hands him a photo of them together when she was a kid, sitting on his shoulders with a camera, just like what just happened. everyone smiles, like big smiles, like acid grind your teeth smiles. This is that little like dial back a little bit, guys. That we we we get everybody's happy how it went. But and that's it. Everybody smiles, smiles, smiles, smiles, smiles. The end.
speaker-2 (01:27:10.188)
That was the moment for me. Okay, so I run a children's film festival. I'm a dad of two young girls. I cry at Disney movies. This was the moment of seeing she hands her dad the photo of her as a little girl on his shoulders. This is what the whole movie was about for me, and what won me over and made me fall in love with it is not not the horror, not the film within a film concept, but
Under every bit of that, the the actual like human family story of here's a dad who's been at this grind for his whole life, lost his joy in what he does. He's got a daughter who's aspiring to do something great with film. You know, we didn't talk a lot about this in our conversation, but you know, there's there's some tension in the family life and like I don't know, just having this moment of payoff and the connection back to
I think someone said this earlier. It's a wholes it's wholesome. Thinking back to when you were a little kid on your dad's shoulders with the little mini DV camera and coming full circle to like, we just did this for real on a you know, a real production. and that daughter getting to step in and take over throughout that production in a way, not just get to meet an actor that she liked, but get to like
speaker-0 (01:28:32.632)
She got to direct him. Yeah.
speaker-2 (01:28:34.328)
Yeah.
speaker-1 (01:28:34.988)
Yeah, Noah, I'm a thousand percent with you. And I was so worried that I was gonna die on this horse of saying that this father-daughter storyline works so well in here. And when that picture came up again, because that's where she got the idea, they showed the picture one other time in the movie. I didn't think much of it, right? And I didn't even think of it when they were building the pyramid. And I didn't even think of it when she was standing on his shoulders doing this.
I did not expect this kind of zombie movie to make me care about a dad and his daughter finding a shared language through filmmaking. You know? It works because the movie doesn't stop to underline it too hard. That's why it works. And I loved it. I I Noah cried. I cried at the end of this stupid little movie. I cried. You know? I was like, my gosh, it was weird on her shoulders. I mean
I was like, Bart is gonna make fun of me and he deserves to. Bart is gonna make fun of me because I cried at the end of this stupid little movie. And I did. But I loved it.
speaker-2 (01:29:42.574)
I'm all about a movie that makes you cry. Especially in an unexpected like going in, I'm watching a horror movie and coming out with some tears. That's a good movie.
speaker-0 (01:29:53.086)
As a father of a daughter, I I loved it. the smiles. And singles of everyone looking at the camera, smiling, it pulled me out of the moment. And that's all this is, right? This is magic. And anytime you get pulled out of the moment, you lose the magic. And had those smiles been dialed down, I I would have been with you guys. I would have been saying the same thing.
speaker-1 (01:30:14.414)
I get what you're saying. It was a little weird, but it didn't pull me out of it. You know, this whole movie is just so crazy what's happening the whole time. And this kind of human pyramid ending turns into this like, this is the moment of victory for these people. If they can just hold it out. You know, it's the the teamwork of a film, right?
speaker-0 (01:30:35.628)
It's a metaphor for indie film.
speaker-1 (01:30:37.504)
Yeah, absolutely. It absolutely is. And so I'm still relishing in that moment, right? And I don't know, there was something geeky about the dad's smile that I was like, that's not altogether what wouldn't happen. You know? I mean, especially everything that he's like been through, you know. So it it didn't pull me out of the moment, but I just I thought it was so sweet.
speaker-2 (01:31:00.374)
If you go back to us watching that original thirty-seven minute movie and just like what you thought of that director in the first moment of the film, I hate this guy. And to see that cheesy smile on the other end of it, like I think it's it's a long arc to earn his right to have that goofy smile there. You know, we've talked a lot about payoffs. And once you get into the heart of the film and it's payoff after payoff after payoff.
It stops being it's not that you're surprised anymore. It's just like, that's cool. That's how they that's what so that's what was going on there. This then became the actual last surprise, her pulling out that photo. I didn't see that coming.
speaker-1 (01:31:46.702)
This movie absolutely rewards you for sticking around.
speaker-2 (01:31:50.99)
Mm-hmm.
speaker-0 (01:31:51.69)
One cut of the dead. There it is. I am so pleasantly surprised by this movie and I'm so happy that I now know it's not just a fine thirty seven minute wonder and that it's I'll say it again, a wholesome movie that makes you appreciate what goes into indie filmmaking and humans working together.
speaker-1 (01:32:15.278)
I loved this movie a lot. I was surprised by it. I was amazed by it. I was in awe of it. It feels like potentially a perfect version of itself.
speaker-2 (01:32:27.512)
That's why it we know we were talking about the low budget and the I don't know, how well it performed for having no budget, no marketing, opening on one tiny screen and then going on to make a bunch of money. Like that doesn't happen if it's not a satisfying experience to watch the film.
speaker-1 (01:32:42.498)
Yeah, for sure.
speaker-0 (01:32:43.653)
yeah. So let's let's do the three questions.
speaker-1 (01:32:45.922)
Yeah, sounds good. okay, so on a scale from kind of straight up horror to full on comedy, where does this one land for you? If we had a zero to one hundred percent, would it be, you know, twenty percent, you know, horror, eighty percent comedy? what where would it where would it land for you?
speaker-2 (01:33:05.454)
I think I've got a cheat. my math is not gonna add up, but I think this movie demands it that I can't give one rating for the movie as a whole 'cause it's like two different movies, at least two different movies.
speaker-1 (01:33:17.954)
Mm, mm-hmm.
speaker-2 (01:33:20.064)
And I think the part one, the one take thing, is more on the the horror side. I didn't laugh a lot during it, during that first section. it's pretty straight up horror. But like in the way, if you are laughing, it's like, it's a little low budget and it's kinda you know, you might cringe at some of the the low budgetness of it. But part two, the rest of the film was like
speaker-0 (01:33:24.942)
Yeah.
speaker-2 (01:33:48.97)
No horror. It's a hundred percent comedy to me. So I feel like it was two different movies. One w there was a horror movie at the beginning, and then there was a comedic behind the scenes movie, in part two. And two different movies, so I think I've gotta rate separately.
speaker-1 (01:33:52.694)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
speaker-1 (01:34:08.45)
Yeah, that makes sense. I can see that. What do you think, Bart?
speaker-0 (01:34:11.778)
Well, like I said, when I thought it was a thirty-seven minute horror film, it was ninety-nine percent horror and maybe ninety-five percent horror when I thought that's all it was. And then when I watched the rest, if I look at it as a whole, it's weird that ninety nine percent doesn't become the thirty seven minute equivalent of the whole. It becomes far less. So now I'd say it's now all of a sudden
Ninety five percent comedy, which I know that math makes no sense whatsoever, but now I'd say ninety five percent comedy, five percent horror for the entirety of the thing. Yeah. Yeah. What about you?
speaker-1 (01:34:47.586)
Yeah, I'm kinda right there. Yeah, I'm right there with you. That that seems to make sense. But yeah, Noah, you almost like it does the film a little bit of a disservice to just say, Okay, there's, you know, one go at this. But I think if if if it's how we are supposed to be taking the film in in its entirety, then yeah, some of those the just between the the blood and the vomit, that's, you know, gonna lend at least five percent. But yeah, I mean it's it's almost all.
comedy. So yeah, I'd I'd lean toward the ninety to ninety five percent.
speaker-2 (01:35:21.614)
Once you know there's no zombies, no actual zombies in any version of it, then it's it loses all the all the horror.
speaker-1 (01:35:29.484)
Yeah, yeah. Which is fine because that's not the purpose here. All right, so elevator pitch. So if you were trying to get this movie greenlit or just trying to convince a friend to watch it, what would your elevator pitch be? And this is tough. This is off the cuff, right? So I don't know if you've thought about this. I'm I'm a preparer. Bart usually just wings it. I can see his wheels turning right now. So if you if you like, I can go first.
speaker-2 (01:35:58.71)
I've got a thought, but it It's really kind of what I did with the first qu I'm like dodging these questions because this movie doesn't it you can't give a simple answer to anything. And that's kind of my pitch is it's impossible to pitch this film, especially from the angle of if you're trying to get a green lit for someone to make this. I have no idea how
speaker-1 (01:36:00.298)
Okay, perfect.
speaker-2 (01:36:23.958)
you explain what this is gonna be in a way that makes someone say, Yeah, that's gonna work. So the pitch is really just trust me, just trust me. Yeah. Can't just I can't explain why or how it's going to work. It maybe it won't, but let's just give it a shot. Let's just just trust me.
speaker-1 (01:36:33.4)
Just hold my hand in the channel.
speaker-1 (01:36:43.906)
Yeah, I was trying to explain it. I'd just finished the first viewing. Jackson and his friend came home. Jackson was like, what's the movie this week? And I told him and I said, It's brilliant. It's absolutely brilliant and I tried to explain it and they both just went, Wait, h hold on, what? Huh? I mean it took it took me longer to maybe explain to them what the movie was about than the thirty seven minute one tape.
speaker-2 (01:37:06.432)
I think trying to explain it to someone just like we've done for this whole conversation, we just keep getting confusing ourselves with the complexities of it. Yeah, you just gotta watch it. And so if you're trying to explain that to anyone, it's just they're gonna glaze over. And but if you can just convince them to just give it a shot.
speaker-1 (01:37:27.118)
What about you, Bart? You wanna go next?
speaker-0 (01:37:28.972)
Yeah, I I'd say what appears on paper to be a thirty-seven minute one take zombie comedy becomes an exploration into independent film, a look at human endurance and a rekindled love between father and daughter.
speaker-2 (01:37:46.946)
Okay, so you did a great job of of of pitching it. So yeah. I guess it can be done.
speaker-1 (01:37:52.75)
Mine's actually in the same kind of vein. you know, I'm I always write mine out because I do put a lot of thought into this one. But mine was come for the 37 minute one take zombie movie, stay for the drunk cast member, the method acting wife, the live broadcast panic, the father-daughter heart, and one crew trying desperately not to stop rolling. I do too. I love it.
speaker-0 (01:38:16.472)
Well done. Yeah. Thanks. I love this movie.
speaker-1 (01:38:22.25)
If you are dealing with anybody that has have ever had anything to do with film and you say, we're about to watch a movie that has a 37 minute one take, I don't care what that film is about. If you're involved with film, you're gonna watch it. Because that's awe inspiring. Everybody knows doing that for five minutes is difficult. Doing it for three minutes is difficult. Doing it for 37 minutes is unheard of. So I mean, if you're a film fan.
That's kind of all you have to say with the elevator pitch is you want to watch a thirty seven minute one take in a film, here it is. You're gonna watch it. okay, recommendation. I have a feeling I know what we're gonna say here, but would you recommend this movie to everyone, to only a certain kind of fan? What is the right audience for one cut of the dead?
speaker-2 (01:39:14.83)
I think if you're like pure horror, I just watch horror films, that's all I want to see. You're gonna be disappointed by the second half of the film. And this probably isn't for you. And then I think someone who's the opposite end of that spectrum was like, I hate horror. You've got to get through that 37 minutes to give it a chance, and you'll get to a part that you might end up enjoying. So I mean, I think we've talked a lot of this is about filmmaking, and I think obviously it has an appeal beyond.
filmmakers and industry people. The bullseye of who it's for is someone who both appreciates great depth and complexity and waiting for the payoff of something, but also seeing the just real look at how difficult things are behind the scenes to make something happen. Definitely not a movie for everyone.
speaker-1 (01:39:44.686)
Mm-hmm.
speaker-2 (01:40:09.442)
I think a lot of people would select themselves out of watching it and never get the chance to realize that they actually would have loved it if they gave it the shot.
speaker-0 (01:40:18.83)
It's a shame.
speaker-1 (01:40:19.436)
Yeah, yeah, it is. What do you think, Bart?
speaker-0 (01:40:22.122)
I would recommend this to almost, almost everyone. Just like Noah said, I know there were like straight horror fans, no fucking way, because they don't most straight horror fans, they don't even like a little comedy in their horror anyway. So we know that those people are very dogmatic in what they watch. And also people that are squeamish that don't like loads of blood, even though it's very campy blood, it's still loads of blood. And some people just have a visceral reaction to that type of stuff. So
That very small percentage I w wouldn't, but anybody who I anyone that I love, I would say watch this fucking movie and put your phone down and enjoy the process because there's such a tremendous payoff in it. So yeah, anyone that I cared about, I would say watch this movie because I know what the journey's gonna produce in the end.
speaker-1 (01:41:15.69)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And that's kind of what I like about it being a Japanese film. You you have to put your phone down. You cannot watch this and multitask in any way, shape, or form. You have to be dialed in the whole time. But yeah, I mean, I'm with you. I would absolutely recommend it to almost every single person. I but I would say I would recommend it and then I would give them a warning and I would say you have to stick with it. You have to.
The right audience is somebody who kind of likes the, you know, clever structure, you know, that horror comedy feel, filmmaking chaos, you know, but this movie rewards patience. And so I, you know, I wouldn't pitch it as sort of a scary zombie movie. I'd pitch it as a hilarious, you know, kind of like weirdly moving, like magic trick almost about making movies with with no money and very little margin of error. but yeah, I would recommend this movie to anybody.
speaker-0 (01:42:11.224)
There's just so much to love about it. And I enjoy the fact that I got to see it thinking it was the thirty seven minute wonder and that was it. And then I get to revisit it and find out there's more to it. I have a whole different perspective now going in and seeing that there's more to it. And it's charming. Yes. It's absolutely charming.
speaker-1 (01:42:30.348)
And I cried at the end.
Ha ha ha.
speaker-0 (01:42:35.176)
Noah, that is one cut of the dead. I love what this film says about young people and film. And the daughters love a film from an early age, even though her father was a director. She had a passion for film and grew up with this passion and wanted to become this director, and then they got to see her dream come true. And I love that. And I love that aspect of nurturing young filmmakers. Noah?
speaker-2 (01:42:38.167)
Right.
speaker-1 (01:43:01.768)
Ha ha
speaker-0 (01:43:04.042)
When does this year's children's film festival take place?
speaker-1 (01:43:06.925)
Yeah.
speaker-2 (01:43:07.34)
Yeah, this year the festival is September eleventh through thirteenth at the Pink Palace.
speaker-1 (01:43:12.406)
Is there a website or a social media page we can go and find out more and see what we can do to help?
speaker-2 (01:43:19.106)
Yes, like you filmclub dot org is the website and on Instagram or Facebook, Like You Film Club is is our name there too. And then the festival itself is the Like You Children's Film Festival. But like you filmclub.org is gonna have all the info and ways to to sponsor or donate or buy a ticket or come to a to come to a movie. We'll go
speaker-0 (01:43:43.352)
Good luck with this year's festival and I wish you great success in the years in the future with it. And thank you for doing this. I appreciate you taking your time. I know we went a little long, but I have to say I I'm grateful that we all had this opportunity to see this movie and talk about it. Cause it's it's one of those very hopeful, charming movies that just makes you just put you in a good mood, which is strange for a a a bloody zombie movie, but
That's the facts, Jeff.
speaker-2 (01:44:14.668)
And I I was uncertain about which film to pick. Now on the other side, I'm like, this was the perfect film for for me to talk about, but I really wasn't sure that it was going to be.
speaker-1 (01:44:28.776)
I'm so glad you chose it. So glad.
speaker-2 (01:44:31.564)
Yeah. The French version, the final cut one, like now that I'm in on this, I'm like, you know, let's have me back to talk about that one. Yeah. there's another one. Okay.
speaker-0 (01:44:42.55)
Or the Vietnamese version, apparently.
I'm all in for
speaker-2 (01:44:48.376)
Really kinda curious to see that one.
speaker-0 (01:44:50.222)
All right, brother. I appreciate it.
speaker-2 (01:44:51.83)
All right, thanks guys.
speaker-1 (01:44:52.866)
Thanks, Noah.
speaker-0 (01:44:55.786)
A
speaker-1 (01:44:56.75)
That was so awesome. That was awesome in all of the ways. I'm so glad that Noah chose that film. I'm so glad that he was our guest to discuss it.
speaker-0 (01:45:08.051)
I I'm on a post one cut of the dead high.
speaker-1 (01:45:12.78)
Yeah, I l absolutely loved it. I was pleasantly surprised. I was glowing after I watched this. And like I say, just sitting there trying to describe to Jackson and his friend like the film that I had just seen and how innovative it was. And you said it a little bit when, you know, at the beginning, but it I I and I told them exactly this. I can safely say I have never seen a movie like this. Never. It makes you realize there are still good stories to be told.
And I was I just really happy after I watched it and very energized as an artist.
speaker-0 (01:45:48.856)
Shinichiro Uida, the director. Incredibly clever. He also edited it as well.
speaker-1 (01:45:53.132)
Mm-hmm. On like a Final Cut Pro on a Mac.
speaker-0 (01:45:56.344)
Yeah. I get so excited when I come across something that I thought was one thing and it's not, and you realize that there are clever, passionate ideas out there being churned out every year. And I can't wait to recommend this to people that I've never talked about this with before.
speaker-1 (01:46:13.912)
Hundred percent. And I hope that people will heed what you say and watch the movie and then listen to this podcast. But I hope then they watch the movie, listen to the podcast, watch the movie again and then start recommending it. You know, I mean, 'cause it's really a wonderful, wonderful film.
speaker-0 (01:46:32.952)
Yeah, I agree. All right, my friend. That was a fun one.
speaker-1 (01:46:37.258)
It was a really fun one and I'm proud of you, Bart. You got through it. This is not I was sitting there watching this movie going, I do not begrudge Bart his job on this podcast after watching that. I mean, job well done, my friend.
speaker-0 (01:46:52.162)
Thank you. I had my concerns while I was watching it thinking the same thing. It's like how the hell does it like we these are actors playing the actors that are in the yeah, just it gets very confusing.
speaker-1 (01:47:03.362)
The cameraman outside of, the cameraman inside of, and then the other cameraman. I mean it's just yeah.
speaker-0 (01:47:09.614)
Yeah. I think for our next episode I will give our guests three of the most basic horror comedies. Scary movie, one, two, and three.
speaker-1 (01:47:18.904)
Ghost or Ghostbusters one. Or Ghostbusters
speaker-0 (01:47:24.494)
Are we gonna do this again?
speaker-1 (01:47:26.126)
Yeah, absolutely we are. This is the time of my life. Two
speaker-0 (01:47:29.39)
I'm having a blast. Me. All right. Enjoy your week and I will talk to you very soon.
speaker-1 (01:47:35.778)
Sounds good, friends. Talk to you soon. Bye.
speaker-0 (01:47:38.094)
Pilot.
speaker-0 (01:47:44.344)
All music for this podcast is provided by MKE. To hear more of his music, visit his band's website at Detectivemusic.com and Detective on Spotify.