“Elegantly plotted…wistful, moving”
— Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
“A stunning production…amongst the best of the year”
— Rory O’Connor, The Film Stage
“Wonderfully beguiling”
— David Ehrlich, Indiewire
“An alternately scahing, erotic, terrifying and affirming fable of the
primordial power of storytelling”
— Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine
“Hamaguchi proves himself to be one of the most astute observers of
human conditions in contemporary cinema”
— Dustin Chang, Screen Anarchy
AN UNEXPECTED LOVE TRIANGLE, A FAILED SEDUCTION,
AND A CHANCE ENCOUNTER WITH THE PAST…
FROM DIRECTOR RYUSUKE HAMAGUCHI COMES
AN ENCHANTING TRIPTYCH EXPLORING FATE AND CHANCE – ONE OF THE BEST REVIEWED FILMS OF 2021
WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY
Street Date: January 18, 2022
Blu-ray/DVD/Digital: $24.99/$19.99
On Many Top Critics “Best of 2021” Lists, This Silver Bear Winner
at the 2021 Berlinale Includes a Bonus Interview with Hamaguchi
SYNOPSIS
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 Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Happy Hour, Asako I & II) — also director of Drive My Car, Japan’s Oscar entry for Best International Film at this year’s Academy Awards® — returns with an enchanting triptych that spins mundane encounters into a world of infinite possibilities. 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.
On many top critics “Best of” lists for 2021, WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY – a critical darling and audience favorite during its theatrical run garnered a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. The drama was #9 in Manohla Dargis’ “Top 10 of 2021” in The New York Times, saying it “[has] moments of beauty and grace along with amazing, complex rivers of words.” Angelica Jade Bastien of Vulture selected WHEEL as her #3 film of 2021, writing “heart-breaking in its sincerity and focus on human connection, elevated by striking performances, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy truly got under my skin and hasn’t left.” And, Alissa Wilkinson of Vox made WHEEL her #8 selection in “The 21 Best Movies of 2021,” calling the film “a haunting, funny, tightly written meditation on loneliness and connection.”
WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY premiered at the 2021 Berlin Film Festival where it was awarded the Silver Bear jury prize. Hamaguchi’s Happy Hour (2015) earned Best Actress & Special Mention for screenplay at the 68th Locarno Film Festival, Asako I & II (2018) premiered in competition at the 71st Cannes Film Festival. His latest, Drive My Car, world-premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival where it was awarded Best Screenplay.
BONUS FEATURES
- Interview with director Ryusuke Hamaguchi
- Bonus Short Film — The Chicken (Directed by Neo Sora | United States | English and Japanese with English subtitles | 14 minutes) — Hiro, a young Japanese immigrant in New York City, faces a complex dilemma when he can’t bring himself to butcher the live chicken he bought for dinner.
PROGRAM INFORMATION
Type: DVD/Digital (iTunes, Amazon, Vudu)
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 121 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen
Audio: 5.1 Surround Sound/2.0 Stereo
Language: Japanese with English Subtitles
