Oh Lucy!

½

“Oh Lucy!” feels like a movie that had something worthwhile to say, if I just could have paid better attention. Setsuko feels unfulfilled in her dead-end office job in Tokyo. Her niece, Mika, asks her to attend an English class that Mika can no longer go to. Setsuko is confused and then charmed by the unconventional teacher, John. But then he and Mika disappear to America, so Setsuko and her sister head off in pursuit. The film is sometimes funny, sometimes touching, sometimes insightful, and sometimes just odd. As the very strange love-triangle between Setsuko, John, and Mika plays out, there are some moments that feel really honest and moving. But they get quickly swallowed by many more moments that just feel weird and creepy. Some of the characters’ actions are so inexplicable (particularly Setsuko’s) that it can be genuinely hard to be sympathetic. In the end, the film required more work than I was willing to put in. I found my attention wandering and, by the time the credits rolled, I felt like there had probably been something worth seeing there; I just hadn’t seen it.