Yonimo kimyô na monogatari - Eiga no tokubetsu hen

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.

This Japanese anthology is something of their own version of Twilight Zone; from its narrator to the way each story is presented.

A group of people find themselves stuck on a train station waiting for the heavy rainfall to stop. A mysterious stranger suddenly shows up and offers to tell them different stories. Now, I expected these stories to contain horror, comedy, or a mix of both. Turns out only the first story (out of four, not including the wraparound segment) is somewhat horror-adjacent. The other three are mainly sci-fi tinged comedic dramas.

Whatever their genre, the stories themselves are nothing to write home about. Some have surprising twists, others are quirky and whimsical, but overall each one of them leaves something to be desired. They mostly last about 30 minutes and still manage to feel sluggish and slow. They're sporadically entertaining if you can vibe with the film's light hearted nature. However, I must praise the audio-visual presentation, as the film looks really good with surprisingly elaborate sets at times and some larger-than-life soundtrack choices.

Overall, this was watchable, but not quite impressive enough to be easily recommended. Only for anthology film completionists.

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.

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.