Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Carmel International Competition

"Ingenious, playful, sparklingly acted and thoroughly entertaining portmanteau collection of three movie tales."

THE GUARDIAN
  • Archive - Festival 37
  • Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
  • Japan 2021
  • 121 minutes
  • Japanese
  • Subtitles in Hebrew, English

Love is at the mercy of chance encounters, surprising connections and random acts in Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s playful trilogy of tales on the theme of “coincidence and imagination”.

The three episodes - an unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding - each revolving around a woman, are in turn divided into three movements, like a piece of music.

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2021 Berlin Festival, the elegant, well-written film with its fine performances is a melancholy delight

Filmography: Asako I & II (2018), Happy Hour (2015).


  • Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi
  • Production Satoshi Takata
  • Script Ryusuke Hamaguchi
  • Cinematography Yukiko Iioka
  • Editing Ryusuke Hamaguchi
  • Festivals Berlin (Grand Jury Prize), Hong Kong, Moscow
  • Actors Kotone Furukawa, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Fusako Urabe, Aoba Kawai
  • Source Lev Cinemas Ltd.