Neopa/Fictive
MOVIE REVIEW
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021)
What makes “Asako I & II” so immensely captivating is how its characters make spur-of-the-moment choices that generate life-altering reverberations. For his follow-up, writer-director Ryusuke Hamaguchi has seemingly taken a figurative page from the book of Tomoka Shibasaki, from whose novel “Asako I & II” is adapted. Winner of the Silver Bear at the 71st Berlinale, Mr. Hamaguchi’s “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy” is a triptych of short films continuing the exploration of fate, impulse and doppelgängers that Ms. Shibasaki commenced. Except in these tales the rash decisions are triggered by anger or longing, which only make them truer to life.