For those 90s kids who swooned for hunky Josh Hartnett in high school you’ll be happy to know he’s made a comeback. The American babe has returned to the silver screen in Japanese director Atsuko Hirayanagi’s Oh Lucy at TIFF.
Lonely chain-smoker Setsuko (Shinobu Terajima) is a single woman living in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo who hates her boring office job and lives with anxiety in her garbage-filled petite apartment. Pushed by her niece Mika to take English classes, Setsuko finds herself quickly falling in love with John (Josh Hartnett), an enthusiastic foreign teacher.
During their first class together John gifts her a blond wig, a new identity, and an American alter ego: Lucy. His unconventional teaching method which includes coaxing quiet Japanese adults to share boisterous bear hugs, quickly has Lucy falling head over heels.
When John suddenly disappears, Lucy’s happiness quickly fades. She becomes more determined than ever to reunite with him in his native California. It’s on a road trip from LA to San Diego that her glum spirit sets free. She finds herself running through a euphoric mid-life crisis, breaking classic conservative Japanese values (impulsively getting a tattoo, smoking marijuana for the first time and pouncing on Mr. Hartnett’s pecker in a parking lot.
Oh Lucy! offers a refreshing synergy where bittersweet comedy combines with an unsettling darker narrative. Proving the power a happy hug can have on a lonely heart.
