Directed by Atsuko Hirayanagi (Japan/US, 2017, 95 min.)

Setsuko (Shinobu Terajima) is a lonely, chain-smoking, past-her-prime office worker in Tokyo. When her fun-loving twenty-year-old niece Mika (Shioli Kutsuna) browbeats her into enrolling in an unorthodox English class she meets a handsome young American instructor, John (Josh Hartnett, Pearl Harbor), who tries to break through Japanese formality by hugging his students; he requires her to wear a curly blonde wig and take on an American alter ego named “Lucy.” Setsuko finds her new identity liberating, and quickly develops romantic feelings for John—to the degree that when he suddenly disappears without explanation she wants to track him down. Setsuko enlists the help of her grouchy sister Ayako (Kaho Minami), and the pair fly halfway across the world to Southern California in pursuit. In a brave new world of tattoo parlors and seedy motels, family ties and past lives are tested as Setsuko struggles to preserve the dream and promise of “Lucy.” With Koji Yakusho. Recalling the culture clash charm of Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, Oh Lucy! is funny but dark, with a gem of a performance by Terajima. Directed and co-written by Atsuko Hirayanagi in her directorial debut. (Partially subtitled)