But Oh Lucy!, an independent Japanese production from debut feature writer and director Atsuko Hirayanagi, tackles the familiar subject matter better than most, combining pathos, comedy and a bunch of great performances to create something truly special and ultimately moving. Through its lead character, the film taps into a universal desire to escape from our lives when we realise we’re not what we dreamed we’d be. The film starts with a random suicide at the train platform, and we quickly realise that such incidents are so frequent that a co-worker thinks nothing of telling Setsuko “I haven’t witnessed one yet’. Setsuko’s daily life consists of waking up alone in her tiny, cluttered apartment and going to work at an office so generic that it’s been deliberately given a more muted, grey colour palette than the rest of the film. She doesn’t speak with her uptight sister, and she doesn’t appear to have any friends. When John shows her kindness before taking it away, she understandably pursues the only thing that’s made her feel alive. Beginning life as a short film, Oh Lucy! comes into its own when it extends beyond that initial premise and takes us to the underwhelming sunshine of Los Angeles. While under the fluorescents of what we can only assume is a converted brothel, John was a kind and exotic gatekeeper to a more enticing world, but in his natural habitat he quickly becomes his real self – an opportunistic loser. It’s here you realise what a genius bit of casting Hartnett is, lending his easy charm and familiarity to a global audience to a role that could have been pretty hateful in another’s hands. His motivations are left vague, but various hints at his backstory paint an unflattering picture. Oh Lucy! isn’t a perfect film, losing its way in the third act before signing off with a simple and effective final shot, but as a character study of a deeply flawed woman, it’s almost unique. We simply don’t see these stories of older women told in Hollywood, and maybe it takes an outside voice to break through that barrier and bring us a story as absorbing and surprising as Setsuko’s. Oh Lucy played at the Raindance Film Festival. When we have a UK release date, we’ll pass it on.