A forlorn office worker (Shinobu Terajima) takes an English class (taught by Josh Hartnett) where role-playing proves to be the key to unlocking her titular second self. We open on an elevated platform where a man standing behind our heroine whispers a goodbye before jumping into the path of an oncoming train. Foreshadowing, ain’t it a bitch? Normally, I’d have spent the entire running time waiting for this introductory action to boomerang in the form of a dramatic payoff. But first-time director Atsuko Hirayanagi — here expanding her 2014 short into a feature — pitches her characters and situations so quirkily and from so deep in left field that by the time the presaging bounces back, it does so with genuine surprise. At its best, it’s a comedy of miscommunication, one that hits an occasional rough spot when the location shifts from Tokyo to SoCal and a chase ensues between Lucy and her mother and sister. (2017) — Scott Marks
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