Tales of the Unusual

Short summary: A group of people get stuck in a railway station because of a sudden rainstorm. One young man tries to make time pass by telling a ghost story to the others. When he can't remember the ending, an older man cuts in with a different story that's connected to the first. The rest of the movie intercuts this first setting in the station with the stories this man tells, all very very different. The first is a regular ghost story about a group of people getting stuck in a small cabin in the middle of a blizzard due to a plane crash. The second is a rather humorous piece about a samurai who finds a cellular phone. The third is a thriller about Chess (I know how it sounds, but it's really very good) and the last one is a sort of hi-tech love story.

I really really enjoyed this movie. All the stories are very different, yet they all seem to have the same type of mood in a way. The first story, the ghost story, was really effective in creating a very scary environment. I usually don't get very affected by this sort of thing, but this part felt very disturbing, a mark of very good horror craftsmanship. The third story, the Chess one, is my favourite. The one movie I can really compare this to is The Game, it has the same feeling of not knowing what is real and what's not. The 'Samurai Cellular' and 'Marriage Simulator' are pretty good, but not of the same quality as the other two stories.

Overall, this movie was a very pleasant surprise for me. I really hope that it'll be released on DVD with english subs soon.

A group of travellers, trapped in a railway station waiting room by a torrential downpour, pass the time by listening to a mysterious man who tells four stories of the bizarre and unreal.

His first tale concerns the survivors of a plane crash who, desperate to seek shelter from a raging blizzard, risk their lives to set off on foot for a cabin which, according to a map, is not too far away. They eventually find the deserted shack and settle down for the night, but, as they sleep, someone (or something) kills them one-by-one. Could the ghost of a girl they left to die in the cold be responsible?

In the second story, a cowardly samurai finds a cellular phone, sent to him by a historical researcher from the future who is keen to verify some facts. The samurai learns that he is destined to become an important historical figure, but in order to do so, he must lead a dangerous coup...

Story number three features a chess champion who, after being beaten by a computer, hits skid row. Three years later, he is found by a millionaire who wishes to play the ex-champ in a chess game which, once started, takes a distinctly weird turn...

The final tale follows a couple about to marry, who decide to 'test-run' their future life together via a marriage simulator. Will their lives be wedded bliss or does the simulator show trouble ahead?

This uneven anthology compensates for its sometimes rather weak storytelling with some surprisingly good visuals from the four directors involved (each handles a separate segment). The direction and cinematography are deftly handled; at turns creepy, funny, surreal and heartwarming, the movie may be unexceptional plot-wise, but it is never boring to look at.

I loved this film. Unlike most "Twilight Zone" movies which focus too heavily on spooky scares, this gives you the full buffet table. There are four shorts: (1) horror, (2) comedy, (3) psychological drama, (4) romance.

I read about this film on IMDb while researching the career of Momoru Hosi, who did the 3rd segment "Chess". Momuru Hosi is a talented new director who has only done one other movie, UNIVERSITY OF LAUGHS, which I recommend very highly. His contribution "Chess" is by far my favourite of the 4. It creates a very surreal atmosphere pleasing to the eye, and at the same time it tells a profound allegory of human life. Great musical score, too. This short alone is worth the price of admission.

The other 3 were also very well done with fine acting, creative plots and vivid cinematography. One thing I love about Japanese cinema is the vivid use of colours, perspective and graceful camera motion. (This is the opposite of American "reality TV" where everything is bleached and flat, and the camera operators seem to be on crack.)

In all, you've got quite a spectrum to choose from. But of course that means that if you're expecting only one genre, you'll be disappointed for the other 3/4. These 4 films were purposely selected to be as different from each other as possible, and that's exactly what you get.

I should also mention that there's a 5th short which is the "envelope" story through which the other 4 are told. This itself is not to be underestimated. You'll just love the storyteller (who is a cross between Rod Serling and a creepy yakuza), and his message, though brief, is a profound one in the end.

A group huddling from the rain in a railway station listen to a set of weird tales told by a strange man whose identity is never revealed:

Tale 1: Four people trapped in the snow leave an injured fifth to die. (Sort of; the situation is more complicated but amounts to the same thing.) They take refuge in a cabin for the night...but it appears someone else is in there with them.

Tale 2: A royal minister in medieval Japan finds a cell phone and gets a call from a historical researcher of the future wanting to find out if the coup the minister is heading will happen as the history books say. In fact he's a coward who doesn't want to get involved...but the phone call makes him think again.

Tale 3: A chess master is defeated by a supercomputer and is so devastated that he becomes a raving derelict. A millionaire finds him and lures him into a chess game that he says governs the outside world. The chess master sees people dressed in black and white on a giant grid, when a piece is captured a man dies, etc. He's committed to a mental institution...but the visions don't stop.

Tale 4: An engaged couple visit a marriage bureau that gives them a VR preview of what their married life will be like. It's a horror, and they break up...but is that the end or not?

The tales all have interesting but faulty premises, each of which leaves something important unexplained. The first one is the best (also, incidentally, it's the only one that's a horror story, which I'd expected them all to be); the second looks like an episode of Spielberg's "Amazing Stories"; the third is the most interesting but the least credible (and I wonder if the idea was swiped from Cervantes); the fourth is Japanese soap opera (which I happen to like). The actors are good, the production is slick, and to me quite Western-looking, and there are a few wonderful images (e.g. a ghost on a wall, a woman dressed as a chess piece)...but it needed better stories.

What if the ordinary cracked open to reveal the extraordinary, where chance encounters and hidden fears reshape fate? Tales of the Unusual, an anthology film from Japan, embraces this question with four distinct stories that weave together suspense, fantasy, and moral reflection.

Detailed and Analytical: Each segment offers a self-contained narrative, ranging from survival and love to guilt and the supernatural. The opening tale, set around a plane crash, highlights human instinct under extreme pressure, while subsequent stories delve into themes of obsession, karmic justice, and the fragile boundary between the rational and the uncanny. The anthology format allows for tonal diversity, though it also results in uneven pacing-some chapters feel tightly constructed while others stretch thin, losing narrative momentum.

The film's strength lies in its atmospheric direction and willingness to explore universal anxieties through everyday settings. Subtle cinematography and muted palettes heighten tension, while performances remain grounded, giving credibility to even the more fantastical elements. Symbolism plays an important role, turning objects and situations into moral tests for the characters. However, the lack of a strong connective thread between stories limits the overall cohesion, making the experience feel more like a collection than a unified vision.

6/10 - Tales of the Unusual stands as an intriguing anthology that captures the unpredictability of human nature under extraordinary circumstances. While uneven in execution, it offers a mix of suspense and reflection that lingers beyond its final frame, rewarding patient viewers with flashes of unsettling insight.