An average movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Josh Hartnett, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be a rather chaotic movie, that's for sure, but I think its randomness was its biggest asset but also its biggest drawback as well, I’m afraid. Indeed, as result, it did make the whole thing really unpredictable and I kept wondering what would happen next which is always something appreciated. However, you wish that they would stop jumping from one idea to the another and focus instead on one of the 5 characters involved (Setsuko AKA Lucy, her sister, her niece, her English teacher and Takeshi AKA Tom) as they were all interesting. Unfortunately, with 90 mins of running time, there was just enough time to develop any of them, even Setsuko. I also think it was a mistake to have the whole story started after she had only one or two lessons with John. Indeed, I wish they took more time to see the impact it had on her. By the way, I never understood why Mika asked her aunt to get some English lessons from her boyfriend. I think it was a way to get some money but, to be honest, the whole plan was rather confusing. Another issue was that the timeline was rather confusing. I mean, it seemed that Mika and John were gone for a few weeks but, at some point, it seemed that they were going for at least 6 months. Finally, I didn’t really get why Mika made such a fuss about the fact that John had a wife and a daughter. I mean, it was pretty obvious that they were separated so, in this case, what was the big deal? Wasn’t he allowed to have a previous relationship? Still, it was an intriguing story and the cast was really solid. In fact, it was a very long time that I saw Josh Hartnett delivering such a fine performance. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.