Yo nimo kimyo na monogatari - Eiga no tokubetsuhen
(Tales of the Unusual, 2000)

Hosi Mamoru (Chess), Ochiai Masayuki (One Snowy Night),
Ogura Hisao (Marriage Simulator) Suzuki Masayuki (Samurai Cellular)

Japan

126 min, color, Japanese (English subtitles)

Review © 2003 Branislav L. Slantchev

A pleasant surprise, the collection of four short films --- horror, comedy, thriller, drama --- Tales of the Unusual was both entertaining and thought-provoking despite the rather heavy-handed way in which the "messages" were served. It is a rainy evening and a group of people are hiding at a railway station. To pass the time, one of them starts telling a story but completely misses its point. An odd-looking man steps in to tell it right, and as he finishes each story, the rest beg him for MORE.

One Snowy Night. A plane crashes during a blizzard high in the snowy mountains. There are five survivors. Two are young girls and best friends but one of them is badly injured. The group goes off in search of a nearby log cabin and after carrying the injured girl for a while, they bury her in a whole. Upon reaching the cabin, the cold, drowsiness, but mostly the guilt, turn the night into one of endless horror and slaughter. Will the guilt destroy all the witnesses?

Samurai Cellular. A fresh look at the legendary 47 Ronin story. This time Oishi Kuranosuke, lord Asano's chamberlain, is a womanizing coward with no intention whatsoever to avenge his master's death. One day, he finds a cell phone and the voice on the other end wants to know if the historical details of the deed are correct as recorded. Slowly but surely, the vain Oishi ropes himself into masterminding the famous raid on Kira's mansion. Maybe courage is mostly fear with nowhere to run?

Chess. The world champion is soundly defeated by Big Blue, a computer, and he leaves his wife and fabulous house to dwell on his failure in the slums. One day he is picked up by mysterious men and led to a mysterious man, who offers him a game of chess. The champ accepts only to find out that the pieces sacrificed in the defense of the King are people who actually die. He is forced to confront his self-involved existence (all the nightmares are really his ego getting crushed by the loss) and eventually is given a choice to sacrifice himself (the King) to protect the Queen (his wife) on a giant chess-board.

The Marriage Simulator. Two people meet by chance, fall in love, and decide to get married. One of the bonus options is a simulator that lets them "see" what their married life might look like. For some reason, they only see the annoying and bad things, the quarrels, the fights, the incompatibilities, and the divorce. Naturally, they break up, only to find themselves pining for each other. Will they take the plunge despite the odds?

The short films were nicely done, with some rather moody scenes, some really terrifying ones (e.g. the shadow on the cabin wall), and some pretty decent special effects (especially in the "Chess" episode). The acting was acceptable although a bit uneven. The most annoying thing about the "Chess" episode --- otherwise among the better ones --- was the pompous declarative ending for the ones in the audience who did not get the point. The ending of the horror story was by far the best.

The Universe DVD is unremarkable. It is devoid of extras but has a letterboxed transfer with the Japanese soundtrack and readable English subtitles. The DVD is region 3.

May 31, 2003