A Masterpiece!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

"Good bye".....and the life is gone.In the case of Setsuko, in her mind it already had....and then John. Because she felt passed by, Johns teaching techniques created a sense of warmth to a lost soul and Setsuko's emotions flirted with love masqueraded by lust of a meaningful life.The script and direction were exquisite as was the acting performances. None could be faulted.The only reason I am not giving 10/10 is because there were a couple of goofs but I am a nerd so I am always hunting for faults.This is a wonderful example of beautiful cinema. GO SEE IT!!

Don't believe the reviews of this movie. This movie shocks and upsets the audience repeatedly. The main character is unlikable. Her actions are inexplicable. Several times she goes out of her way to try to destroy people for no particular reason. The rest of the time she seems withdrawn and empty. The main character is a forty-ish woman in Tokyo who takes an English class where she has to don a crazy blond wig and adopt an American name. Josh Hartnett plays the English teacher. Not a bad premise, but it is surrounded by darkness.FROM HERE ON THIS REVIEW IS FULL OF SPOILERSIn the beginning of the movie someone jumps to their death in a train station. The main character, "Lucy" lives in a hoarded up apartment, and seems largely empty when she is not destroying someone for no reason. She horribly insults a heavy, older co-worker at that woman's retirement party. The woman has worked for the company for forty years. Lucy tells her, apropos of nothing, that she is a fat loser and the other workers say she is delusional behind her back.The English teacher is Lucy's niece's boyfriend. Apropos of very little, Lucy decides to follow him to California and try to steal him. It's hard to see what is driving this character, who seems empty, vacant, and devoid of humanity and feminity. The one sex scene is devoid of sensuality. Lucy basically sexually assaults Josh Hartnett's character while he is stuck in a car seat. Then more happens. In keeping with the rules for movie sex scenes, this one is devoid of foreplay. This from an artsy female director.Josh Hartnett's character and Lucy's niece have matching tattoos of the word "Love" on their forearms. Although he would like to forget their car encounter, after it Lucy goes out and gets a duplicate of this tattoo on HER forearm. Lucy, her sister, and the English teacher catch up with the niece in San Diego where she fled to escape problems in her relationship that predated Lucy. Lucy and her niece find an unusually precarious sea cliff to sit and talk. It is here that Lucy chooses to reveal that she has slept with her young niece's boyfriend. The young woman jumps from the cliff and appears to have died.Later you see she is alive but seriously messed up. Back in Tokyo Lucy attempts suicide by taking pills from a blister pack after being fired from her job. Presumably she was fired for her abusive outburst against her older co-worker. She is saved by a fellow student from her English class who comes by her apartment. Miraculously he cures her overdose by shooting water into her mouth from a shower attachment, cause apparently that's how that works in Japan. Then she vomits. Then she tries to get it on with him, but he says, "You're not yourself right now." That's the end.

Even though the movie was Japanese, it could easily have been an American Indie movie. Complex characters and issues that can't result be resolved. No simple answers here

"Oh Lucy!" seemed like a quirky comedy during the first half or so of the picture. The beginning, in particular, seemed very strange and quirky. However, this is NOT the mood of the entire picture and the cute leading character progressively becomes uglier as the story progresses.When the story begins, Setsuko is conned into buying an English language course off her niece. The niece says she paid for it but it would be a big favor if the aunt paid her for the classes and took them herself. And, considering Setsuko is single and hasn't much of a life, she decides to at least try the classes. She is shocked at what the classes were. Instead of a nice classroom, the place looked like a sex club and the instructor, John, was more about teaching the students how to not only sound American but ACT American. His class included hugging (something VERY foreign to Japanese society), wearing wigs and acting casual...and Setsuko liked this as well as her new American name, Lucy.Soon, however, Lucy learns it's been a set-up. Her niece only wanted the money to run off to America with John...and the new teacher is too normal and doesn't give hugs. So, she does what anyone would do in this situation...she insults her coworkers and gets a plane ticket to America. When her nasty sister finds out, she insists she comes along. What's next? Well it's NOT what I expected as the cute Lucy reveals herself to be a selfish, nasty piece of work. In fact, most everyone in the film seems this way-- at least all the main characters. All semblance to a comedy disappears and what you're left with is the story of a woman you find almost impossible to like. This is a case where the first half and second half of the film don't watch up and the whole is unfortunately not especially satisfying as a result.