Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Writer-director Ryusuke Hamaguchi had an amazing 2021! First, his Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy nabbed the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize in Berlin, and then his Drive My Car captured the Best Screenplay and International Critics prizes at Cannes. In the former, we are treated to a brilliant triptych of stories revolving around women, fate, and chance. Story 1 features a kind-of love triangle, story 2 shows an attempt by a female student to sexually entrap her professor, and story 3 chronicles what appears to be the reunion of lovers from long ago. That all three stories seem to speak to each other across the frame makes this a unique and wholly original experience.

‘Ingenious, playful, sparklingly acted and thoroughly entertaining… This trio of stories is elegant and amusing, with a delicacy of touch and real imaginative warmth. The narratives saunter along lightly but fundamentally seriously… It’s a really pleasurable and invigorating experience.’—Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian