Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Ryusuke Hamaguchi (濱口 竜介, Hamaguchi Ryūsuke, [hamaꜜɡɯtɕi ɾʲɯꜜːsɯ̥ke]; born 16 December 1978) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. An alumnus of the University of Tokyo and the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, he started getting attention in his home country with the graduate film Passion (2008). Hamaguchi first gained international recognition with the film Happy Hour (2015) and continued with Asako I & II (2018). In 2021, he released two films, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and Drive My Car, for the latter he has received two Academy Awards nominations, for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. He is the third Japanese director to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Director.