If you’re a world cinema lover who does not yet know the name Ryûsuke Hamaguchi—winner of the Best Screenplay prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for his adaption of Haruki Murakami’s short story, “Drive My Car” (read our rave review)—that is very likely about to change.
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Hamaguchi has been a busy fellow recently, also co-writing Kiyoshi Kurasawa’s “Wife of a Spy,” (another great Japanese film you should check out) as well as taking home Berlin’s Grand Jury prize for his anthology project, “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” the trailer for which has just been released.
Set to screen at the upcoming New York Film Festival before an October theatrical run, Hamaguchi certainly seems to have a thing for fragmented storytelling (see also: “Asako I & II”), and is no stranger to playing with short narrative formats—“Drive My Car” taken from the 2014 collection, “Men Without Women.” “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy” finds the filmmaker spinning 3 absorbing tales of love, memory, and loss. Here’s the official synopsis:
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An unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction, and a chance encounter with the past. Propelled by coincidence and imagination, and guided by love’s gentle current, acclaimed director Ryūsuke Hamaguchi (Happy Hour, Asako I & II) returns with an enchanting triptych that spins mundane encounters into a world of infinite possibilities. In Episode 1: Magic (or Something Less Assuring), a young woman is startled when she realizes that her best friend’s new flame might just be her ex; in Episode 2: Door Wide Open, a disgruntled student plots to trick his college professor, using his friend-with-benefits as bait; and in Episode 3: Once Again, a girl’s college reunion leads to an unanticipated run-in with an old friend, and awakens feelings long since forgotten. Playfully inspired by life’s tiny miracles, and bound together by memory, regret, deception, and fate, Hamaguchi leaves no stone unturned in his quest to chart the ever-deepening mysteries of the all-too-human heart.
“Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy” opens in select theaters on October 15. Check out the trailer below.