Фільм складається з чотирьох окремих історій, в основу яких лягли традиційні японські «кайдани» — розповіді про привидів.

Фільм за однойменним романом Кобо Абе. Ентомолог і учитель, що збирав свою колекцію комах поблизу бідного села, залишається заночувати у будинку самотньої жінки. Усі будинки знаходяться у ямах. Наступного дня він виявляє, що опинився у пастці. Мотузяну драбину ніхто не подає. Він робить кілька спроб втечі, але марно. Фільм про те, на що приречений кожен чоловік і кожна жінка у цьому житті.

A shoe company executive who has mortgaged everything he has becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and is conflicted over whether he should pay the ransom.

Обов'язок «Водія» — тікати від переслідування поліції після пограбування. Ще нікому не вдалося його зловити. Після чергового вдалого пограбування, детектив вирішує поставити на карту свою репутацію, але знайти злочинця. Він домовляється з кількома кримінальниками, щоб ті заманили його в пастку. Водій і його компаньйонка, дівчина, що промишляє азартними іграми, намагаються обіграти детектива.

When 54 high school girls throw themselves in front of a subway train it appears to be only the beginning of a string of suicides around the country. Does the new all-girl group Desert have anything to do with it? Detective Kuroda tries to find the answer, which isn't as simple as he had hoped.

Все той же затрапезного вигляду самурай, любитель випити, але майстерно володіє мечем, тепер допомагає дев’яти чесним воїнам провінційного містечка отримати перемогу над корумпованими лиходіями, що рвуться до влади над кланом.

Японія, кінець XVI століття. До села на березі озера Біва на околицях Омі наближається грізна армія феодала Сібати. Гончар Гендзуро і його шуряк Тобей, який мріє стати самураєм, вимушені працювати не покладаючи рук, щоб заробити якомога більше грошей...

Various experiences of childhood are seen in several sequences that take place in the small town of Thiers, France. Vignettes include a boy's awakening interest in girls, couples double-dating at the movies, brothers giving their friend a haircut, a boy dealing with an abusive home life, a baby and a cat sitting by an open window, a child telling a dirty joke, and a boy who develops a crush on his friend's mother.

Сюжет фільму розгортається 1998 року в Макао. Саме тоді, коли влада в Макао переходила від португальських колонізаторів до уряду Китайської Народної Республіки. Острів моментально перетворився на арену лютої боротьби за сфери впливу поміж місцевою мафією і бандитськими угрупованнями, що завітали до острова з материка та Гонкоґа, який став Спеціальним адміністративним районом Китаю за рік до Макао.

Follows a young cyclo driver on his poverty-driven descent into criminality in modern-day Ho Chi Minh City. The boy's struggles to scratch out a living for his two sisters and grandfather in the mean streets of the city lead to petty crime on behalf of a mysterious Madame from whom he rents his cyclo.

A man awakes to find himself trapped in a dirty, confined crawlspace. He barely has enough room to move. He also has no memory of why he's there, or why he's bleeding from a stomach wound. Apparently drugged, he occasionally 'zones out' of his surroundings as he tries to edge towards his way to freedom. But the more he explores, the more pain he has to endure, and the more frightening his predicament becomes.

100 miles north, a bit east and up, is Pinchcliffe, the home of bicycle repairman Reodor Felgen and his two assistants, Solan Gundersen and Ludvig. Sponsored by oil sheik Ben Redic Fy Fazan, they build the car "Il Tempo Gigante" to race against Reodor's former assistant Rudolf Blodstrupmoen, who has stolen one of Reodor's inventions to become a world racing champion.

Prompted by the death of his father and the grief of his mother, a man recalls the story of how they met in flashback.

An insane surgeon's obsession with an actress leads him to replace her wounded pianist husband's hands with the hands of a knife murderer--hands which still have the urge to throw knives.

Rich old Cyrus West's relatives are waiting for him to die so they can inherit. But he stipulates that his will be read 20 years after his death. On the appointed day his expectant heirs arrive at his brooding mansion. The will is read and it turns out that Annabelle West, the only heir with his name left, inherits, if she is deemed sane. If she isn't, the money and some diamonds go to someone else, whose name is in a sealed envelope. Before he can reveal the identity of her successor to Annabelle, Mr. Crosby, the lawyer, disappears. The first in a series of mysterious events, some of which point to Annabelle in fact being unstable.

Ichiko bakes a cake for an end-of-year party with her friends. In the depths of winter, making mochi and curry keeps the people of Komori warm. Later, spring brings thoughts of her absent mother as well as rice planting and sakura, and she begins to think of leaving Komori behind again.

A quartet of disaffected Korean youths have robbed a Seoul gas station. After taking the gas station over, their wacky antics ensue; forcing the manager to sing, kidnapping customers that complain about the service, and staging fist-fights between street gang members and gas station employees; all of these reflect their own gripes against society.

In late 1700s Korea, Lady Cho challenges the playboy Lord Jo-won into seducing and sleeping with her husband's coming young, virgin concubine. Lady Cho agrees to sleep with him if he succeeds.

Lino and Chicca are an aging, childless middle-class couple whose life is disrupted after he's diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

Set in cold rural Quebec at Christmas time, we follow the coming of age of a young boy and the life of his family which owns the town's general store and undertaking business.