2021 was a banner year for Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Not only did he give us his finest work to date with Drive My Car, but he also gave us what may be his second-best outing to date with Wheel of Fortune & Fantasy.
First off...no... the film has nothing to do with the game show, so don't expect this to be some kind of ridiculous and overblown film like Slumdog Millionaire.
This is a minor nitpick, but I would actually argue that the title of Wheel of Fortune & Fantasy doesn't quite fit the film. It isn't the literal English translation of the original Japanese title; that would actually be "Coincidence & Imagination". I would argue that is far more apt.
Wheel (which I will call it for short) is a film told in three acts that are connected more by similar themes rather than a straight-through plot or even the same actors.
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PART ONE:
Magic (or Something Less Assuring)
Our first installment begins with two friends, Meiko and Tsugumi, who are in a taxicab heading home from a photo shoot. Meiko has heard that Tsugumi has a new lover...along to realize that her lover is a former boyfriend of hers whom she still loves.
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PART TWO:
Door Wide Open
College student Sasaki is seen begging a professor of his not to fail him in class as it would ruin his chances in pursuing his career after school. Right after, we see Sasaki is having an affair with an older woman named Nao and when they discover that this same professor just won a prestigious award for a novel he just wrote, the scorned Sasaki coerces Nao to seduce the professor and create a scandal to ruin him.
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PART THREE:
Once Again
Two women connect thinking they both went to the same high school, only to realize that they may not be the people that they expected. However, they may actually be able to offer each other some solace that they weren't expecting,
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I would say that each part improved upon the other and it led to a truly wonderful final third in which I loved watching the scenes with Fusako Urabe as Natsuko and Aoba Kawai as Aya as the two friends who may not have been friends after all...along to discover that maybe they could be the friend neither knew they needed.
Wheel is a movie that felt very refreshing and unassuming.
I honestly don't know if I have much to say about it as I feel like a lot of what makes the film work is watching it unfold for yourself.
It is a subtly powerful film that accomplishes a sort of wistful and bittersweet feel that I don't find often in films.
RATING: 4.5/5
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