Congratulations to Ryūsuke Hamaguchi on winning his first Oscar for Best International Feature Film! If you watched DRIVE MY CAR, you must check out his other 2021 film WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY, which will start streaming on the Criterion Channel in April. Manohla Dargis wrote in the The New York Times that WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY deserved 5 Oscar nominations.
When both films premiered at the New York Film Festival in October, I had a chance encounter with him after the WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY screening. Grateful that I was able to tell him what an honor it was to illustrate the official poster for his film!
Hamaguchi’s other masterpiece is now available on digital/VOD/blu-ray/DVD courtesy of Film Movement. One of the best 2021 films according to The New York Times, IndieWire, Slant, The Ringer, Reverse Shot, Film Comment, Letterboxd, The Film Stage, and many more.You can now purchase it via Film Forum too!
Hamaguchi sits in front of my art during an interview for Film Movement’s WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY blu-ray/DVD.
DRIVE MY CAR made history by being the first Japanese film nominated for Best Picture by The Academy. It had four nominations total (Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best International Feature Film, Best Picture), tying Akira Kurosawa’s RAN as the most-nominated film ever from Japan. The film, based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, also won the Best Screenplay prize at the Festival de Cannes in 2021 and the Golden Globe for Best Non-English Language Film in 2022.Simu Liu and Tiffany Haddish presented the award to Hamaguchi. It’s very apt that the actor who plays Shang-Chi, the first Asian superhero to lead a Marvel film, gave the award to Hamaguchi, whose film is only the second Japanese film to win Best International Feature Film.
The film premiered in North American theaters on Oct. 15 at Film Forum.
It’s an amazing feeling to see my art plastered all over my favorite movie theater in New York!
My art in good company next to Todd Haynes’ The Velvet Underground posters in the Fellini Coffee Bar
My poster in the hallowed halls of Film Forum
The New York Times’ Critic’s Pick, winner of the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival’s Silver Bear Jury Prize, winner of Chicago International Film Festival’s Silver Q-Hugo, a Main Slate selection at the 59th New York Film Festival, an official selection for Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente, Moscow Film Festival, Hong Kong Film Festival, a Gala Presentation selection at the 26th Busan International Film Festival, and Certified 98% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
On my way to lunch after watching Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY at the New York Film Festival on Oct. 2, I had a chance encounter with the director himself! I felt like I had just entered his film (the Japanese title, 偶然と想像, is COINCIDENCE AND IMAGINATION.) He told me how much he loved the poster I illustrated for his film and I congratulated him on his two film premieres – WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY and DRIVE MY CAR. What a serendipitous meeting with the master!
Film Movement’s December DVD-of-the-Month. With a Film Club subscription, the recipient will receive a feature film each month on DVD before it’s available to the public, a Director’s Statement, and members-only discounts on all Film Movement Blu-ray and DVD titles!
Instagram photo by taniwaki.kenichi, taken at Bunkamura Le Cinema in Tokyo, Japan. If you see the poster I illustrated anywhere – in print, at a movie theater, etc. – please tag me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or feel free to send pictures. I’d love to see! 🍿
Elizabeth Yoo 