Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Clearly, this movie polarises viewers. For me, way better than same director's Drive My Car. As good as Burning, American Honey, Stuff and Dough, or Our Time, a few of my benchmarks for 21st century cinema.

The original Japanese title, which translates as Coincidence and Imagination, is much more apt than the clunky English title.

To illustrate his theme, the director writes the most utterly brilliant dialogue, which is sort of like 3D scrabble on steroids.

For all of that, it still needs the wonderful third reel, where the coincidences coalesce into genuine insight and wisdom, of the sort that can reduce you to sudden tears in a darkened cinema.

Hamaguchi-san, you are an ornament, go to the top of the class. I reckon the old masterful deceiver, Bunuel, will be smiling down upon you.

Among the best dialogues I've ever seen. Touching, emotional and very smart. It's the kind of film that you need to be 100% on it but it really worths. All these characters seem real and it's all about life choices.

With mise-en-scène that strongly resemblance of a stage play, there's an undeniable sort of distance between the viewers and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy. At least for a while. But then Hamaguchi Ryûsuke was able to break the distance with his direction that felt both intimate and personal. In the end, the film has a lasting impact, even long after the end credit rolls.

The director showed how to create an amazing story with just a fixed scene and two actors talking to each other with some very good dialogs.

'Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy (2021)' is a triptych of entirely independent short stories loosely connected by their shared themes of fate and finding truth through purposely affected false pretences. Told primarily via dialogue with very little formalistic flair, the three stories vary in quality but are consistently grounded and character-driven. They're all very play-like in their execution and construction, with their various reveals and thematic elements being contained entirely within the conversations that act as their beating heart. This is, of course, is to be expected from writer-director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, whose other recent effort, 'Drive My Car (2021)', was similar in terms of its - for lack of a better term - talky nature. The difference is that Hamaguchi plays around with structure in that piece and uses both its more prominent theming and its intimidating length to craft genuinely affecting character interactions as it approaches its finale. Here, he doesn't have time to really do what he does best - that being slow-burning, character-building drama - or, at the very least, he doesn't get to do it to the best of his abilities. The format simply doesn't allow for the same kind of development. That's not to imply that this effort is entirely unsuccessful. It's relatively engaging throughout and its stories progress fairly unexpectedly without feeling as though they're being subversive for the sake of it. The naturalistic acting enhances the cleanly grounded atmosphere, with the players disappearing into their roles to the point that it's sometimes easy to forget they're performing at all. There are some really long takes in here, too, which subtly showcase the technical prowess of all involved - both in front of and behind the camera. Ultimately, it is a little underwhelming, though. It doesn't grip you all that tightly and the pacing of all three shorts is fairly loose, leading to a bit of a meandering vibe that doesn't do the piece any favours. It's never boring, but it's never exciting or emotionally moving, either. It is interesting on occasion and it's undeniably a well-made affair, but it never rises beyond being just good (if that makes sense). Still, it's a solid effort overall.