Tales of the Unusual

2000 2h 6m JA

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 13

HorrorComedyRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A four-part anthology in the spirit of The Twilight Zone, this film starts off with a group of commuters stranded at a train station in the rain, listening to stories told by one of the group. These include tales of a group stranded in the mountains and haunted by guilt over a death they inadvertantly caused, an emotionally broken chessmaster pressed into playing a real-life game for an eccentric millionaire, a wandering medieval samurai who finds a modern-day cell phone on the ground and a person on the other end asking questions about the past, and a young couple who agree to try a computer simulation of what their future as husband and wife would be like.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Kazuyuki Aijima
Manabe (segment "One Snowy Night") / Salaryman (segment "The Storyteller")
Izumi Inamori
Chiharu Takajo (segment "The Marriage Simulator")
Renji Ishibashi
Old Man (segment "Chess")
Takashi Kashiwabara
Yuichi Tokunagi (segment "The Marriage Simulator")
Narumi Kayashima
(segment "The Marriage Simulator")
Masahiro Komoto
Seiichi Tomoda (segment "Chess")
Saya Takagi
(segment "The Marriage Simulator")
Akihiko Murata

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Hisao Ogura
Writers: Ryôichi Kimizuka, Katsuhide Suzuki, Tomoko Aizawa
Languages: Japanese, English, French
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

26 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Japanese, English, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Tales of the Bizarre Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Hisao Ogura, shot by Hiroshi Takase. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Hironori Doi. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Kazuyuki Aijima and Izumi Inamori and Renji Ishibashi carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0293984 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 13 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Hisao Ogura directs. Hiroshi Takase behind the camera. Hironori Doi scores. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese, English, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

126 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Japanese, English, French.
3Part of the "Tales of the Bizarre Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Hisao Ogura, shot by Hiroshi Takase. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Hironori Doi. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Kazuyuki Aijima and Izumi Inamori and Renji Ishibashi carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt0293984 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 13 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.