Tales of the Unusual

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.

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 originally saw this movie on a festival when it came out. A year ago, I bought the DVD, and I am glad I did because I do not get fed up with watching it over and over again. The four stories differ a lot, but they are all really good (the last one maybe a little cheesy, but my wife likes that). My favourite is definitely "Samurai Cellular". As a non-Japanese, it was only yesterday that I found out about the story actually being historical (except for the cellular phone, of course). This makes it even more funny. If you are a fan of Twilight Zone or short films in general or like Japanese culture try to see this on DVD! And I really mean "or", because the compilation serves all three interests.

"Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari" (or however you subdivide the title) appears to be, from the cover art, another of those popular Japanese horror flicks, a la "Ringu", "Tomie", et al. Well, that's only about 25% right. Unfortunately, the creepy cover art initially led me to overlook this title, despite its comparison to one of my favourite vintage TV shows, Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone". Upon closer examination, however, I must admit the concept of "Keitai Chushingura" convinced me to purchase the DVD.

As detailed elsewhere, the movie consists of four short films tied together by a creepy guy (credited as "Tamori") in a bus station who tells stories to others stranded by a downpour. The first, "Yukiyama" is the horror entree, starring Yada Akiko ("Saimin", "Aishiteiru to Ittekure"), who does her best "Blair Witch Project" impression. Tense, a little confusing, but well done. I kept thinking of the Snow Demon in Kurosawa's "Dreams". "Keitai Chushingura" was initially my favourite, since it brought a hilarious twist to the time-honoured Bushido legend of the 47 Ronin of the Ako Clan. This time, Oishi is portrayed as a reluctant womanizing hero who has to be coerced into his historically relevant action by the promptings of a caller from 300 years in the future who's part of an "historical accuracy study" or something like that. Good stuff. "Chess" is a surreal, clever twist on the game which seems like it came right out of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". Finally "Kekkon Simulator" was a totally non-creepy, neat little romantic story featuring Inamori Izumi ("Long Vacation", "Hito Natsu no Propose", "Ashita ga Aru sa!"), which was touching without being excessively weepy. The only letdown was perhaps the final short monologue from Tamori-san, but it in no way detracted from a fine film. NOTE: As of 12/2001, I believe there are only Region 2 & 3 versions available on DVD, both of which have English subs.

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.