"Wheel of fortune and fantasy" was relaesed in Dutch arthouses only after the big success of "Drive my car" (2021, Ryusuke Hamaguchi).
The same happened with for example "Red Sorghum" (1988, Zhang Yimou) after the successes of his later films "Ju Dou" (1990) and "Raise the red lantern" (1991). In cases like this the question is, is the film really good or is it an attempt to piggyback on a later success? In the case of Hamaguchi this question is all the more understandable because of the short period of time between the two films. Did he really make two masterpieces in one year?
When writing this review, I have seen "Wheels of fortune and fantasy" but not "Drive my car". My conclusion can therefore be only provisional. This conclusion is that "Wheels of fortune and fantasy" is a good film, but in my opinion not of the quality of an Oscar winner ("Drive my car" won the Oscar for best foreign language movie).
"Wheel of fortune and fantasy" is a film consisting of three episodes. All episodes are about love and or sex. The lead characters in all episodes are women. In one episode the male character remarks that in the relationship he is nothing more than a dildo. Luckily this is exaggerated, but the center of gravity of the film lies undeniably with the female characters.
The title of the film is well chosen. No "normal" relationships in this film, but unexpected twists and turns in all episodes ("wheel of fortune"). In NOT chronological order the twists and turns center on attempted blackmail, love triangle and mistaken identity.
More important is that the film is not about action but about fantasy. And thus also about dialogue and monologue. While the film is about love and sex, nude scenes are almost completely absent. This is most prominently illustrated in the second episode. In my opinion the best scene was however the beginning of the first episode, in which two female friends discuss the new boyfriend of one of them during a taxi ride. Increasingly excited, they discuss the possibility of an erotic ending of the next encounter.
The same happened with for example "Red Sorghum" (1988, Zhang Yimou) after the successes of his later films "Ju Dou" (1990) and "Raise the red lantern" (1991). In cases like this the question is, is the film really good or is it an attempt to piggyback on a later success? In the case of Hamaguchi this question is all the more understandable because of the short period of time between the two films. Did he really make two masterpieces in one year?
When writing this review, I have seen "Wheels of fortune and fantasy" but not "Drive my car". My conclusion can therefore be only provisional. This conclusion is that "Wheels of fortune and fantasy" is a good film, but in my opinion not of the quality of an Oscar winner ("Drive my car" won the Oscar for best foreign language movie).
"Wheel of fortune and fantasy" is a film consisting of three episodes. All episodes are about love and or sex. The lead characters in all episodes are women. In one episode the male character remarks that in the relationship he is nothing more than a dildo. Luckily this is exaggerated, but the center of gravity of the film lies undeniably with the female characters.
The title of the film is well chosen. No "normal" relationships in this film, but unexpected twists and turns in all episodes ("wheel of fortune"). In NOT chronological order the twists and turns center on attempted blackmail, love triangle and mistaken identity.
More important is that the film is not about action but about fantasy. And thus also about dialogue and monologue. While the film is about love and sex, nude scenes are almost completely absent. This is most prominently illustrated in the second episode. In my opinion the best scene was however the beginning of the first episode, in which two female friends discuss the new boyfriend of one of them during a taxi ride. Increasingly excited, they discuss the possibility of an erotic ending of the next encounter.