Review of the latest releases
WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY (15, 121 mins)
Showing now in UK & Ireland selected cinemas
JAPANESE writerdirector Ryusuke Hamaguchi is currently riding high on a wave of success for his delicately observed drama Drive My Car.
It’s no surprise that his three-part romantic anthology Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy arrives in selected cinemas this week, perfectly timed for Valentine’s Day.
In the opening story entitled Magic (Or Something Less Assuring), model Meiko (Kotone Furukawa) is upset when her best friend Tsugumi (Hyunri) shares details about a new man and Meiko realises that the mystery hunk is her exboyfriend, Kazuaki (Ayumu Nakajima).
Next, in Door Wide Open, student Sasaki (Shouma Kai) is infuriated when his revered college professor Segawa (Kiyohiko Shibukawa) ignores begging pleas to reconsider a poor grade.
In retaliation, Sasaki implores a married friend with benefits, Nao (Katsuki Mori), to seduce the professor and ruin his reputation.
The final story, Once Again, centres on Moka Natsuko (Fusako Urabe), who attends a high school reunion and encounters a former classmate at the railway station.
They reminisce and disclose feelings they have harboured in their hearts for many years.
FLEE (15, 89 mins) Showing now in UK & Ireland selected cinemas and streaming on Curzon Home Cinema
WHEN the Oscar nominations are announced this week, director Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s critically acclaimed animated documentary is hoping to achieve a rare double: Best International Feature (representing Denmark) and Best Animated Feature.
Pushing the boundaries of the medium, Flee is based on heartfelt real-life interviews between the filmmaker and a close friend and high school classmate, who appears under the pseudonym Amin Nawabi.
For 20 years the 36year-old academic has kept a painful secret that could derail the pictureperfect life he has built with his soon-to-be husband.
Told mostly through animation, Rasmussen chronicles Amin’s extraordinary and gruelling journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan — a voyage of selfdiscovery that will ultimately force Amin to confront his unsettling history.
Only when he stops running from phantoms of the past can Amin find peace and security in his new home of Denmark.