By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Atsuko Hirayanagi
Starring: Josh Hartnell | Kaho Minami | Koji Yakusho | Megan Mullally | Nick Gracer | Reiko Aylesworth | Shinobu Terajima | Shioli Katsuna
Country: japan, united_states
Year: 2018
Running time: 95
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6343058/reference
Thom says: “Back in the early days when I first embraced Film Movement when I discovered them while a volunteer worker at the Oakland Public Library, I saw all their releases I could find either at the libraries in Oakland & San Francisco or local video & DVD rental stores, when they existed. I even went so far as purchasing at least 30 of their titles, some 10 that I still own. They had a variety of US independent films, documentaries, or foreign gems, none of which had received universal release. Generally, it was a Film-of-the-Month club and for the first few years the quality was unusually first rate. But for the past 10 years their overall excellence has declined, not so badly that I miss any of their releases that keep coming my way, but many of the titles are somewhat mediocre. So I was thrilled to find this little gem from novice filmmaker Atsuko Hirayanagi this her frosh entry. Setsuko (an amazing Shinobu Terajima), a bitter middle-aged office worker in Tokyo is a real bitch, but one that is so unusual, and quite unpredictable, so much so that you keep being aghast at her decisions, to a very real fascination. Her niece is estranged from her mother, Setsuko’s sister, and she comes to her aunt begging her for money to buy her subscription for English lessons at a local somewhat dubious classroom. After relentless begging she obliges Ayako and somewhat reluctantly she decides to attend the classes only to discover they are being held in a peep show/brothel in an unused room. The class is run by a charming, ne’er-do-well, American expatriate John (Josh Hartnell in one of his best roles). The only other student is lonely Takeshi who takes a hankering towards Setsuko. Since they are to only speak English in class John names them Lucy & Tom, although he appears to have no special skills as a teacher. Setsuko/Lucy finds herself attracted to John, so she’s quite disturbed when she finds the classes have been cancelled, with no information forthcoming on what happened to John plus no return of her investment. In trying to track him down, in a scene that could only take place in a film, she happens upon John & Ayako talking about their getaway to the US as they finally have enough money to leave Japan from Lucy & Tom’s tuition money, as Lucy stays hidden. Later she gets a post card (I have a friend that lives in San Francisco who has a great post card collection, even better than mine) from Ayako with her California address. Once she’s fired from work she goes to her sister and they decide to journey to California to reclaim Ayako, although it’s hilariously apparent that Lucy is really going over to pursue John. She and her sister’s trying to fit into American customs is beautifully drawn and while many of the scenes are outlandish they indeed all work. While there are many hilarious scenes the film is anything but a comedy. An inherent tragedy of major proportions suffuses the film, with an appropriate melancholic finale. Beautiful script is perfectly played. 5 cats“