Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy * * * *

This film is from Japanese director, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who recently gave us Drive My Car.  I thought it odd that two of his productions should be released so closely, but apparently this one was shot during a break from Drive My Car.

Like Drive My Car, Wheel of Fortune is dialogue driven.  The film is made up of three quite separate stories, but they have a similar theme.  

Haven't we met before?!

In the first story a fashion model shares a taxi with her makeup artist after a shoot.  The makeup artist talks enthusiastically and happily about a man she has recently met.  The model realises she knows him all too well.  

In the second story a young man has not done well at college, he is also having an affair with a mature age student.  Seeking revenge on his lecturer he asks for her help.  She visits the lecturer to entrap him by reading aloud the erotic scenes from his novel in the hope he will respond indiscreetly.

In the third story two women meet each thinking they know they other only to find they don't know each other at all, but rather than walking away from each other they explore the coincidence.

Each story is perfectly acted providing an ending that reflect life itself - which is to say both just and unjust, fair and unfair. The locations are limited - being only three or four per story; not so much great cinema but certainly great drama and rich with a beautiful ambience.