“Sarogeto” is a cryptic, morose and meandering wander around grief, death and dying and “past lives” that’s only as mysterious as its title. Once you know what “Sarogeto” means in Japanese, it’s easier to understand that “icky” was probably not the intention of writer-director Nico Santucci.

Santucci made his feature directing debut with this Japanese-flavored fumble through big themes and weary tropes, projecting entirely too much of the “action” in voice-over-narrated slow-motion for his own good.

A little girl loses her mother and gets bawled out by her father when she spills mom’s ashes at the cemetery/shrine where she’s to be interred.

A poetic voice-over has adult Grace (Ikumi Yoshimatsu) questioning that father after his death, years later.

“How can I continue my journey without understanding the destination?”

Grace grew up to marry well and live in luxury in LA. But showing up at your doctor’s (Eric Roberts) office in a Rolls Royce doesn’t lessen the sting of “tumor next to your aorta” and “melanoma” death sentence.

Getting a second opinion from a retired Japanese doctor (veteran charater actor Aki Aleong) who was a friend of her late father’s is no help. Her “Maybe my past lives are catching up with me” joke lands flat. Dr. Tano’s “inner peace” speech is small comfort.

“A soul’s journey…is about the souls that surround it.”

Grace resolves to keep this secret fom her husband (Winsor Harmon) and little boy (Tyler Ghyzel).

“You’d think they’d have found a cure for asthma by now” is all she’ll say to them about her health. She resolves to hire a nanny to be her “sarogeto” (say it out loud), if only she can find one prospect who isn’t seriously put off by her extremely personal questions.

“Do you have a boyfriend? Do you want kids of your own? What is your emotional intelligence like?”

The much much younger Miki (Ruby Park) is who she hires to take over reading her little boy the battered old Japanese children’s book her mother left her, the tale of the kitten and the dragon.

The script is diffuse, unfocused, emphasizing the airy and the dreamlike. Slow motion shots of Grace walking on an empty beach or through a Japanese forest have her musing poetically and forgettably in voice-over about the past and the future.

Yoshimatsu, a bit player and stuntwoman getting a rare leading lady role, is only as good as the material, which has the consistency of vapor. Whatever the title, whatever lip service is paid to grief, past lives or facing one’s fate, Santucci has a hard time getting around to making a point. And when he does, it’s so dated as to play like a slow motion cringe.

Rating: unrated

Cast: Ikumi Yoshimatsu, Winsor Harmon, Ruby Park, Aki Aleong and Eric Roberts.

Credits: Directed by Nico Santucci, scripted by Nico Santucci and Timothy Michael Hayes. A Gravitas Ventures release.

Running time: 1:31