Emi-Abi

Overview

Up-and-coming manzai stand-up comedy duo Emi-Abi has lost consummate funny man Unno (a surprisingly touching Tomoya Maeno) to an accident, leaving conceited straight man Jitsudo (Ryu Morioka) to contend with his diminished career prospects as a bland, pretty face entertainer. Guided by his manager Natsumi (Haru Kuroki), who demonstrates stronger comedy chops than her own star, Jitsudo comes to learn the circumstances of his friend's passing, as well as the life-and-death stakes of a career in comedy. Demonstrating a careful balance of tone across tragedy and deadpan and gross-out humor, writer/director Kensaku Watanabe expands "Emi-Abi"'s hilarious premise into a strikingly assured meditation on artistic rivalry and self-actualization.

Details

Status

Released

Release date

September 3, 2016

Original language

Japanese

Spoken languages

Japanese

Countries

Japan

Production

Bitters End

Cast

Ryu Morioka,Yuya Matsuura,Yoshiki Saito,Hako Oshima,Kenta Kunai,Haru Kuroki,Jyo Hyuga,Hirofumi Arai,Mari Yamachi,Tomoya Maeno

Director

Kensaku Watanabe

Budget

Not recorded

Revenue

Not recorded

IMDb

tt5224870