Synopsis
An unexpected love triangle, a seduction trap, and a random encounter are the three episodes, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.
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Cast
- Kotone FurukawaMeiko
- Ayumu NakajimaKazuaki
- HyunriTsugumi
- Kiyohiko ShibukawaSegawa
- Katsuki MoriNao
- Shouma KaiSasaki
- Fusako UrabeNatsuko
- Aoba KawaiAya
- Hitoshi OmikaMagazine editer
Recommendations
- 100
The Film Stage
It feels a complete whole––a wry intertwining dialectic on modern desires––yet each scene is uniquely bracing: beautifully poised, exquisitely observed, and even erotically charged––rife with unabashed seduction, though always close enough to farce to keep things kösher and to keep you guessing (it’s telling that we barely glimpse a kiss). - 90
The New York Times
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is a perfect entry point into Hamaguchi’s work. Not every episode works equally well or hits as hard, but both times I watched this movie, I found something to admire, consider, argue with and weep over. - 88
Slant Magazine
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s film is an alternately scathing, erotic, terrifying, and affirming fable of the primordial power of storytelling. - 88
RogerEbert.com
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is a love letter to the art of spinning a good yarn, but it’s also a sharply observed paean to the lies and truths we tell ourselves so that we may function from day to day. - 83
IndieWire
This one is every bit as static and chatty as fans have come to expect; rooted to its two-actors-in-a-room reality, but also charming and characteristically unpredictable for the ways it wiggles free of it like a loose tooth. - 80
The Guardian
This trio of stories is elegant and amusing, with a delicacy of touch and real imaginative warmth. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is full of understated, melancholy poetry. - 80
Screen Daily
Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy allows Hamaguchi to return to themes he has explored in previous work from the way life is measured in twists of fate to a sense of duality in individual lives and characters.
