Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021)
90%RT Audience Score:
Awards & Nominations: 7 wins & 23 nominations
Writer-director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi explores multiple facets of the human condition with Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, all to delightfully affecting effect.
If you’re looking for a movie that will make you feel all the feels, then Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is the one for you. This triptych of stories about love, chance, and fate will have you on the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next. And let’s be real, who doesn’t love a good seduction tale? But don’t worry, it’s not all serious – there are plenty of playful moments that will have you laughing out loud. So grab some popcorn, settle in, and get ready for a cinematic masterpiece that will leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
Film Movement
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
3 Chome-14-5 Sendagaya, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
MPAA / Certificate
Year of Release
2021
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 1m
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Language(s):Japanese
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Country of origin:Japan
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 15, 2021 Limited
Genre(s)
Drama/Romance
Keyword(s)
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Drama, Romance, 2h 1m, Japanese, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Satoshi Takada, Satoshi Takata, written by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, starring Kotone Furukawa, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Katsuki Mori, Fusako Urabe, Aoba Kawai, Ayumu Nakajima, Film Movement, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Guy Lodge, Jake Wilson, David Stratton, Drew Gregory, Alissa Wilkinson, Wendy Ide, Sarah Ward, Graeme Tuckett, Erick Estrada, Jane Freebury, Pieter-Jan Van Haecke, producer Satoshi Takada, Satoshi Takata, MPAA rating, love triangle, seduction trap, encounter, misunderstanding, relationships, coincidences, women in love, human condition, multiple facets, affecting effect, approachable introduction, destiny, fate, romance, forces, female-led, deft, empathetic, camerawork, intricate, character sketches, minor masterpiece, playing parts, adopting a role, quest, fantasize, infinite
Worldwide gross: $1,357,220
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,476,122
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,498
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 160,973
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Kiyohiko Shibukawa – self
Katsuki Mori – self
Fusako Urabe – self
Aoba Kawai – self
Ayumu Nakajima – self
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi – Director/Writer
Satoshi Takada – Producer
Satoshi Takata – Producer
Director(s)
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
Writer(s)
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
Producer(s)
Satoshi Takada, Satoshi Takata
Film Festivals
Berlin
Awards & Nominations
7 wins & 23 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (106) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (105) | Rotten (1)
If you’re a relative newcomer to Hamaguchi’s work, this triptych of gently humane, wistful short stories is an ideal, approachable introduction.
June 1, 2022
Guy Lodge
Film of the Week
TOP CRITIC
All three stories could be loosely described as tales of seduction, which is also the game Hamaguchi is playing with the audience: toying with us, persuading us to jump from one speculative train of thought to another, keeping us alert and intrigued.
April 28, 2022 | Rating: 4.5/5
Jake Wilson
The Age (Australia)
TOP CRITIC
This is an intriguing, involving work from a major filmmaker.
April 22, 2022 | Rating: 4/5
David Stratton
The Australian
TOP CRITIC
It’s destiny. It’s fate. It’s better than any romance under the stars.
April 8, 2022
Drew Gregory
Autostraddle
TOP CRITIC
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is a brilliant, beautiful, deceptive meditation on the forces that move us all.
March 24, 2022
Alissa Wilkinson
Vox
TOP CRITIC
This female-led triptych of stories, with its deft, empathetic camerawork and intimate, intricately crafted character sketches, is a minor masterpiece in its own right.
February 13, 2022 | Rating: 4/5
Wendy Ide
Observer (UK)
TOP CRITIC
In a beguiling piece about playing parts, and that makes the process of adopting a role its very reason for flickering, peering at its actors feels like peering at reality at its most soulful, insightful and also playful.
June 24, 2022
Sarah Ward
Concrete Playground
You will not see many better written, better performed or more affecting films this year. Or any year. Hugely recommended.
June 9, 2022 | Rating: 5/5
Graeme Tuckett
Stuff.co.nz
And maybe, underneath the whispers, we glean the point of the entire movie: That love, whether brief or eternal, is impossible. But that our quest to find it and fantasize about it are infinite. [Full review in Spanish]
June 8, 2022
Erick Estrada
Cinegarage
A spare and elegant anthology of random stories about young Japanese, women in the main, searching for meaning in their relationships, that combines as a meditation on chance and coincidence in modern life
June 7, 2022 | Rating: 4/5
Jane Freebury
Jane Freebury
With Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Hamaguchi proves, once more, that he is an eloquent master of conversation naturalism and a virtuoso…
June 2, 2022
Pieter-Jan Van Haecke
Psychocinematography
Resilient, elegant, and delicate in the staging and in the direction of performers, Hamaguchi works within the risky confines of political (in)correctness. [Full review in Spanish]
June 1, 2022 | Rating: 4/5
Diego Batlle
Otroscines.com…
Plot
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is a collection of three interconnected stories about love, seduction, and misunderstandings, all told through the lives of women in love.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
There is no goofy or funny or odd comment about the film in the Fresh Kernels database.
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