Japanese anthology film “At the Bench” presents five different episodes unfolded at one particular spot. While some of them are connected with each other to some degree, each of these five episodes are fairly engaging in each own way, and we gladly go along with how each of them deftly balances itself between humor and drama from the beginning to the end.

The shared background of all these five different episodes is an old bench which was once a part of some public park located in some neighborhood area of Tokyo. Now almost all of this public park is demolished for building a daycare center someday, and the bench will also be gone once the construction of that daycare center is officially started.

As we notice more of how empty and remote it feels around this bench at the beginning of the first episode, the bench is soon occupied by two young people: Riko (Suzu Hirose) and Nori (Taiga Nakano). As they begin their little private conversation on the bench, we gradually gather that they were once quite close to each other in the past, and we also get to know a bit about how they have been frustrated with the status of their respective lives. The more they talk and interact with each other, the more we sense of something being rekindled between them, and the mood soon becomes a bit romantic with the approaching sunset in the background.

In contrast, the second episode shows another young couple who are not so happy with the current status of their relationship. As they are sitting on the same bench, the girl talks about how much she has been discontented with many human flaws of her boyfriend, and there soon comes an amusing moment when she tries to explain to him her growing discontent via several pieces of sushi to be eaten by him. While he struggles to understand her more, we become more conscious of someone who happens to be right behind the bench, and their situation eventually becomes quite absurd to our little amusement.

The third episode is also about one very problematic relationship. At the beginning, we are introduced to two sisters clashing with each other around the bench, and their heated conversation lets us know more about the ongoing issues between them. One of these two sisters suddenly left for Tokyo and then became a homeless person just because she is quite obsessed with a guy who will not possibly love her back, and her concerned sister certainly wants to take her back to their home as soon as possible, but she remains quite adamant about remaining in Tokyo.

Nevertheless, these two sisters try to understand and persuade each other as much as possible, and that is the main source of amusement for us. Yes, they only come to clash more with each other, but they are also reminded again that they still do care about each other despite all those clashes between them, and you may smile a bit while observing how their circumstance is resolved in the end.

Compared to the raw qualities of the third episode, the fourth episode on the bench is more stylish with some self-conscious touches. At the beginning, we just watch a pair of plain civil servants examining the bench, but then their interactions become increasingly odd and absurd to our little bafflement, and then there comes a series of plot turns which will certainly catch you off guard. I will not go into detail here for avoiding any possible spoiler, but I can tell you at least that you will enjoy the resulting playful mood to the very last shot, and this is certainly the most entertaining part of the film.

In case of the fifth episode at the bench, we meet Nori and Riko again. Although they are still not sure about their relationship, it is evident that they care about each other more than before, and their casual conversation becomes quite philosophical as they get more serious about their life and existence. Although both of them are well aware of many uncertainties in their life, they decide to take a chance with their love, and we come to smile a bit along with them while also observing some poignancy in their reflection on life and existence.

This is the first feature film of director/co-editor Yoshiyuki Okayama, who also participated in writing the screenplay along with Sho Hasumi, Shûko Nemoto, and Miku Ubukata. Under his competent direction, each of the five episodes in the film are imbued with each own distinctive mood and style to be appreciated, and he also drew good performances from his small cast. While Suzu Hirose and Taiga Nakano effortlessly generate enough romantic vibe between them in the first and fifth episode, Amane Okayama, Yukino Kishii, and Yoshiyoshi Arakawa ably handle the absurd situation of their characters in the second episode, and Mio Imada and Nana Mori are fairly effective in the third episode. In case of Riho Yoshioka and Tsuyoshi Kusanagi in the fourth episode, they play their characters as straight as possible for more laughs, and the same thing can be said about Ryunosuke Kamiki, who plays a substantial character later in the fourth episode.

Overall, “At the Bench” is packed with enough wit, mood, style throughout its rather short running time (86 minutes), and Okayama demonstrates here that he is another promising Japanese filmmaker to watch. Although this is still more or less than a test run, it is solid enough for recommendation at least, and I think I can have expectation on whatever may come next from him.