Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is a captivating anthology film from Japan. It was released in 2021. This engrossing drama encompasses three separate but thematically connected storylines. Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who is also known for his renowned feature film Drive My Car, uses the three stories to explore the complexity of interpersonal relationships with a touch of fantastical realism. In the three episodes that make up the running time of the movie, viewers are given a visual treat with spectacular performances from lead actors, Kotone Furukawa, Ayumu Nakajima, and Hyunri. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is a thought-provoking piece of cinema that provides a perspective into the human psyche, love and relationships, and the power of destiny.

The film begins with the first story titled "If I Could Express It In Words". The story revolves around two friends, Meiko, a university student played brilliantly by Kotone Furukawa, and Tsugumi, her close friend and actor. They're caught in an awkward romantic triangle with the same man unknowingly. This creates an interesting twist in the tale and portrays the delicacy of friendship and love.

The second story, "An Exceedingly Women’s Tale", focuses on the theme of love and liberation. It features a somewhat uncommon scenario between Natsuko, an older woman engaged in her personal war against technology, and Aya, a young woman who is a tech-savvy escort. Their encounters provide a complex, multilayered narrative on dependence, liberation, and the strange bonds of unexpected friendships.

The final story, "Once Again", is a narrative that sets the boundary of fantasy and reality into a blur. It encircles a woman, Nao, who incidentally meets her old love interest and their encounter sets off a chain of events that question the very definitions of coincidence, destiny, and the essence of emotional connection.

Each story in Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy unveils a different aspect of human insight, emotional struggles, and the unpredictability of connections. While the stories are independent of each other, all of them unravel the complexities of human relationships and emotions in one way or the other. The film also provides a fascinating discussion about the nature of human interconnectivity and happenstance, which keep viewers engrossed until the end.

Foregrounding brilliant performances, Hamaguchi's powerhouse trio of Kotone Furukawa, Ayumu Nakajima, and Hyunri deliver empathetic performances, bringing the film's characters to life with their exceptional acting prowess. The director’s script also manages to detail each character's diverse personalities, giving the audience an insight into their lives and thoughts. The performances are strengthened by the director's preference for dialogue-heavy scenes, which provide the perfect canvas for the actors to shine.

Combine all of this with Hamaguchi's distinctive narrative style, and you're left with a movie that also stands as a visual treat. The director uses his camera expertly to drone and weave around the beautiful Japanese cityscapes and interiors, giving you a taste and feel for the environment in which these characters live. The cinematography is meticulously crafted, every shot is a blend of thoughtful visualization and well-planned execution.

The melodrama is further intensified by stark and absorbing background scores that perfectly align with the narrative. The sound design is carefully managed to emphasize the dialogues, thus making the conversations impactful. The transitions between scenes, the combination of subtlety and intensity, and the careful staging of analepsis are all testaments of the director's immense understanding of film form and structure.

On the whole, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is a beautifully-woven narrative that uses love, longing, serendipity and the ceaseless quest for human connections as its essential themes. The film allows the viewer to deeply dive into the mind, heart, and make cognitive and connective assumptions about the characters. It is characterized by the unexpected surprises and revelations that life has to offer, anchored by an enticing narrative and compelling performances.

With its atmospheric cinematography and articulate script, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is an introspective journey into the human psyche, relationships, and life that reveals the complexity of coincidences and destiny. It is a testament that Japanese cinema, not unlike its unique and diverse culture, continues to produce some of the most engaging and thought-provoking stories in the world.