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Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

100 Movies of 2021

Guzen to sozo

2021

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

Kotone Furukawa, Ayumu Nakajima, Hyunri, Katsuki Mori ...

6.8

2,448

Drama. Romance An unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.

	Media	Author	Review
		Allan Hunter Screendaily	"While it may feel less substantial than his previous films, 2015’s Happy Hour or Asoka 1 & 2 in 2018, festivals and supporters will still find considerable pleasures in his polished approach to familiar themes"
		Peter Debruge Variety	"Slight but satisfying (...) Audiences tend not to take well to coincidence in drama(...) In Hamaguchi’s hands, however, lucky (...) twists don’t feel so much like manipulation as a chance for the filmmaker to explore a series of intriguing scenarios"
		Stephen Dalton The Hollywood Reporter	"Hamaguchi's intimate snapshots of middle-class angst are unusually humane by the standards of modern cinema, frequently invoking Eric Rohmer's warmly indulgent depictions of Parisian bourgeois ennui"
		Chuck Bowen Slant	"An alternately scathing, erotic, terrifying, and affirming fable of the primordial power of storytelling (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"This trio of stories is elegant and amusing, with a delicacy of touch and real imaginative warmth (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		David Ehrlich IndieWire	"The finished product is only greater than the sum of its parts because Hamaguchi understands that the best short fiction isn’t just a travel-sized version of something bigger."
		Rory O'Connor The Film Stage	"It’s an overwhelming film, amongst the best of the year, and a beautiful reminder of all the lives being lived in spite of our oddly lifeless time."
		Dustin Chang Screen Anarchy	"Hamaguchi proves himself to be one the most astute observers of human conditions in contemporary cinema (...) Funny and touching and very well acted. One of those films you want to see it again immediately after finishing it"
		Odie Henderson rogerebert.com	"As with any anthology series, some parts work better than others. But even when the quality dips slightly, we remain consistently intrigued (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Jake Cunningham Empire	"This is a gracefully performed and expertly detailed collection of stories, revealing the delicate and unassuming magic to be found in simple conversation (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Valerie Complex Deadline	"Womanhood is challenging to navigate as the pressures of life can be overwhelming. However, as the main characters mature and move on, they realize and verbalize how they feel about themselves and others –without judgment"
		Justin Chang Los Angeles Times	"Marvelous (...) The unforgettable closing image contains emotional multitudes, and it throws the meaning of all three stories into subtly clarifying relief: The past may be irretrievable, but the present is still a gift"
		Natalia Keogan Paste Magazine	"'Guzen to sozo' cuts to the chase in a way that's quaintly quirky —and never dull to watch unfold"
		Phil de Semlyen Time Out	"The writer-director's greatest gift is in wringing intense emotion from each moment, with meticulous blocking and careful camerawork that guides his characters towards –and away from– each other (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Jenny Nulf Austin Chronicle	"Hamaguchi has a beautiful outlook on mistakes and the complex emotions that make up humanity, and his tenderness toward each character makes him one of the best storytellers working today (…) Rating: ★★★★½ (out of 5)"
		Lawrence Garcia AV Club	"Hamaguchi's deliberate disruptions of narrative flow are not crude storytelling gestures so much as attempts to create epiphanic moments out of time, where the rift between imagination and reality ceases to exist"
		Ben Croll The Wrap	"The prologue outshines everything that comes next... But why fault a film for trying -especially when the initial results are so achingly good"

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