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Review: Oh Lucy! (2017) ★★★★

Oh Lucy! 2017

&NewLine;<p>As a former ESL teacher&comma; it’s hard not to laugh at the cynical truths of Atsuko Hirayanagi’s directorial debut&comma; <em>Oh Lucy&excl;<&sol;em> Originally developed as a short&comma; Harayanagi turned the script into a feature-length film&comma; with Shinobu Terajima and Josh Hartnett in the lead roles&period; The story follows Setsuko &lpar;Terajima&rpar;&comma; a lonely woman from Tokyo who travels to Los Angeles in pursuit of her newly-developed crush on her American English teacher&comma; John &lpar;Hartnett&rpar;&period; Much of the film’s comedy derives from the cultural discord and misunderstandings between Setsuko and her new love&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>When we first encounter Setsuko&comma; she is a single&comma; middle-aged office worker who lacks passion and romance in her life&period; She does not socialize outside of work&comma; aside from a contentious relationship with her sister&comma; Ayako &lpar;Kaho Minami&rpar;&period; However&comma; when Setsuko’s niece&comma; Mika &lpar;Shiori Kutsuna&rpar;&comma; contacts her&comma; Setsuko excitedly arranges a dinner together&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>At the dinner&comma; Mika informs Setsuko that she has been taking English classes&comma; but she must quit in order to save money for her future&period; She asks Setsuko to buy out the rest of her course&comma; even offering a free introductory course to entice her&period; Though she shows some reluctance at first&comma; Setsuko eventually decides to attend the class&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>When Setsuko arrives for the free class&comma; her American teacher&comma; John &lpar;Hartnett&rpar; greets her with a hug&period; She is taken aback by his forward gesture but is nonetheless enchanted by John’s looks and personality&period; John tells her that her new English name is &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Lucy&comma;” and even gives her a blonde wig to help her adopt her new American persona&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>However&comma; when Lucy returns for her second class&comma; she discovers that John has quit and is returning to the United States&period; On her way out of the school&comma; Lucy sees Mika kissing John&period; She soon learns from her sister that Mika is moving to the United States as well&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Lucy quickly loses her drive to study English in John’s absence&period; However&comma; when Mika sends Lucy a postcard with her new Los Angeles address&comma; Lucy decides to travel to Los Angeles in pursuit of John&period; Unwilling to let her go alone&comma; Ayako accompanies her sister on her journey&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i0&period;wp&period;com&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;01&sol;hero&lowbar;Lucy-2018-2&period;jpg&quest;fit&equals;800&percnt;2C334&amp&semi;ssl&equals;1" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-1781"&sol;><figcaption><em>Oh Lucy&excl;<&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Needless to say&comma; Lucy’s trip does not go exactly as planned&period; She only knows a few words of English and understands little of American culture&period; As a result&comma; the trip quickly devolves into drama and chaos as Lucy attempts to win over her American crush&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The most striking aspect of <em>Oh Lucy&excl; <&sol;em>is the sincerity of its characters&period; Lucy embodies the typical overworked&comma; underappreciated Japanese office worker&period; When she encounters John&comma; he infuses a sense of excitement and passion into her otherwise colorless life&period; Like many Americans who teach English overseas in Asia&comma; John appears &lpar;to his students&rpar; like the symbol of American success&period; Both Mika and Lucy fawn over him&comma; only to discover that he is not the knight in shining armor as they once thought&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Even if you ignore the humorous cultural clashes&comma; <em>Oh Lucy&excl; <&sol;em>excels at developing believable characters in relatively unbelievable circumstances&period; Despite her outwardly timid and unadventurous personality&comma; Lucy drops everything in pursuit of a man she’s only just met&period; It sounds like the premise of an over-the-top romantic comedy&comma; but the script’s underlying cynicism about love and relationships prevents it from falling into cliches&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>Oh Lucy&excl;<&sol;em> is an intimate character study and black comedy but it also does an excellent job of contrasting the visual and cultural chasm between Los Angeles and Tokyo&period; Though Tokyo feels cold and distant to Lucy&comma; it is full of vibrant life to everyone else in the city&period; Alternatively&comma; we see the grungy&comma; seedy underbelly of Los Angeles&comma; which seems to appeal to no one&period; We also experience the unrefined and ugly aspects of American society&comma; which are reflected in the dingy streets&comma; houses&comma; and motels that Lucy visits&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>Oh Lucy&excl;<&sol;em> ultimately succeeds thanks to the quality of its cast&period; Shinobu Terajima is perfectly cast as the naive heroine&comma; while Hartnett is completely believable as the quintessential American living abroad&period; The rest of the cast does an admirable job&comma; but it is the combined talent of the film’s two leads that really make <em>Oh Lucy&excl;<&sol;em> a memorable viewing experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Review&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&starf; out of 5<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If you’d like to watch <em>Oh Lucy&excl; <&sol;em>&lpar;2017&rpar;&comma; it is currently available to rent our purchase <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B07CYQVD9Z&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B07CYQVD9Z&amp&semi;linkId&equals;06342e6795cb88aa79a64a3634631787">via Amazon here<&sol;a>&period;<br><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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