Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

A woman finds a man from her past resurfacing in her friend’s love life. A disgraced student tries to get revenge on his professor, only for his trap to result in a surprising connection and unexpected humiliation. And two former classmates reconnect in a world where all computer technology has failed – but are they the same women each hoped to see decades later?

Technology as a social connector plays a key role in each segment of this masterful, understated anthology drama from Ryusuke Hamaguchi. The devices and services themselves, however, are never the focus. Magic happens when two people speak face to face, heart to heart. Hamaguchi’s script effortlessly reveals the absurd in deflections and observations, but each moment of levity cements the underlying human drive for connection. There is a wry awareness that everyone – even the most put-together young business person – is hiding a unique messiness, but an equally unique maturity can result from confiding that messiness in another.

The first two stories – Magic (or Something Less Assuring) and Door Wide Open – are three-handers. Each subverts the love triangle expectation: the former through transcendence, the latter to hope and disappointment. The third story, Once Again, has a more integrated supporting cast but is anchored in the long-buried dreams and loves of two lives unexpectedly intersecting.

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy engages through its infinite love for lost souls, and while watching it, the world feels smaller for two hours.

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Released 11 Feb by Modern Films; certificate 15