Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (2014) User Reviews (73)

Surreal

[Vartiainen · 7/10 · 21 October 2016]

An introverted, heavily antisocial woman in Japan sees Fargo, the Coen Brothers film about a couple of gangsters failing at a job, and in the process hiding and losing a briefcase full of money. Fair enough, but the fun and the story start when she becomes fixated on the fact that surely this must be a true story and there's a real treasure somewhere on the side of a North Dakota road just waiting for her.

Kumiko is a bizarre story, as you have probably already surmised. Rinko Kikuchi, most known for Pacific Rim, plays the lead here, and she absolutely sells the character. She is the epitome of a square peck in a round hole and it's at times painful to see her trying to surmount the obstacles of everyday life that we take for granted. And a lot of the mystery of the film comes from wondering how she ended up like this and just how deep her condition goes. There's a very good scene near the beginning where she meets an old friend, who greets her like any other high school friend you have not seen for years, and you realize that surely Kumiko was not always like this. Something happened.

But the real treats start rolling when Kumiko decides to follow her only true passion and buys a plane ticket to America. The rest cannot be really talked about without spoiling the story, but trust me that it's just as surreal as Fargo at its best and, more often than not, even more so.

Plus, the ending, which is just about perfect. The only way this kind of story could really end.

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter is an experience. Its reach is perhaps greater than its grasp, but it's still a movie I'd definitely recommend for its sheer ambition and uniqueness.

"I'm like a Spanish Conquistador!"

[paul-allaer · 8/10 · 6 April 2015]

"Kumiko The Treasure Hunter" (2014 release; 104 min.) brings the story of Kumiko. As the movie opens, we see Kumiko walking alongside the beach with a map, eventually retrieving a VHS tape from under a rock. It turns out to be the movie "Fargo", and Kumiko becomes obsessed with it, and in particular the character played Steve Buscemi , who buries a briefcase full of money in the Fargo snow. Meanwhile, we witness Kumiko becoming more and more aloof and isolated in her day-to-day life, including her job as an Office Lady in corporate Japan. It's only when she is watching "Fargo" that she feels alive. Kumiko eventually decides to go to Fargo. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Several comments: the movie is directed, co-written by and stars David Zellner (his brother Nathan co-wrote the script). The story is a fantastical concoction that is loosely based on true events, and when I say "loosely", you should read that in the broadest possible meaning. The movie's initial 45 minutes play out in Tokyo, and Zellner captures the loneliness and isolation of the Kumiko character, still an Office Lady at age 29, perfectly. When Kumiko is caught trying to steal a huge world atlas from the library and is asked why, Kumiko passionately explains that "I am like a Spanish Conquistador, retrieving untold treasures!", to the shock of the library guard. The last hour of the movie plays out in the US, and captures the mood of the 'frozen tundra' and also the mood of the "Fargo" movie perfectly. When Kumiko is wondering the snowy fields, the movie becomes the anti-"Wild" movie: rather than finding herself, Kumiko becomes more and more lost. Please note that, like in "Wild", there are long stretches in this film where not a word is spoken. Knowing some of the background on the real life events on which this is loosely based, I was quite surprised with the ending offered by this movie… Last but not least, there is a great instrumental soundtrack, composed and performed by Austin-based indie band The Octopus Project.

I head read about this movie, and was intrigued by it. Imagine my surprise when "Kumiko The Treasure Hunter" opened without any pre-release fanfare or advertising at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati this weekend. I went to see it right away and the Sunday matinée screening where I saw this at was attended okay but not great. Which is a shame, as this is a very nice 'little' movie that is quirky and off-center, yet always entertaining if not intriguing. IF that sounds like it might appeal to you, you cannot go wrong with this. "Kumiko The Treasure Hunter" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Fortune, and the pursuit of ...

[nbb100 · 8/10 · 25 March 2015]

Viewers are asked to identify with the Coen Brothers' fictional "Fargo" and the reality of the Zeller Brothers' "Kumiko" (Rinko Kikuchi of Babel). Our leading lady on a treasure hunt for something we all crave – what we want.

Kumiko is insulated from the rest of the world through solitude, Her character cannot subscribe to Japanese societal norms and the journey is like many: weathering professional and personal criticism for not measuring up to the public barometer. She is hungry for the smallest dollop of approval. Frosty comrade pressures and a personal friend with child make the tiny Single made to believe she does not measure up. Even Mother is disappointed that she is still not married, a Japanese custom that girls are to wed by 25 or live at home.

Yet, our actress ventures out alone to find little gems wherever she goes, small hidden treasures that strengthen thoughts of another journey. She identifies best with her bunny Bunzo (Rabbit - symbol of rebirth and innocence). Emotionally drained, Kumiko cannot stay in a world that punishes her for not attaining expected behaviours. Mistaking make believe for real life, our disillusioned lead leaves native Japan penniless and fixated, but armed. She encounters Americans who unknowingly assist in her adventure. Blanketed in determination, our heroine explores self-abandonment, only to be rescued from the cold with local hospitality.

All this happens against a constant, white background of the silver screen, the Japanese symbol of death. This film leads viewers to decipher what is "not" real and what is. This film is a myth of fortune and the pursuit ... of what we each want. After watching, we may all realise we have been living a dream, maybe other's dreams … and not our own. Her future may be someone else's chaos.

Beautiful and haunting

[Red_Identity · 9 June 2015]

What a fascinating film to behold, truly. I had no idea it was based on any urban legend. One could swear, based on much of the film's tone and atmosphere, that it was a horror film in disguise. In its own way, it is a horror film, but it's not bound by any genre and instead it manages to be both supremely disturbing, it gets under your skin, but also really beautiful and engrossing on an emotional level. People seeking it out because "treasure hunter" sounds like it would make for something really fun should probably look away. The film will no doubt polarize many, with its most ardent fans defending it until their last breath while others will criticize it for being pointless or boring, or both. Regardless, it's a majestic film and unlike anything I've probably ever seen, and there couldn't have been anyone better cast than Kikuchi.

A well done ambiguous movie

[jeanmichellavoie · 7/10 · 29 April 2019]

The interpretations people have of this film are very divided. Some seems to think its a comedy, where you enter in Kumiko cute escapist fantasy. Others seem to believe its the very sad story of a mental breakdown. Critics who believe the former seem to view the film as great, while the one who believe the later are more critical. I tend to agree with both. An actual mental breakdown will be seen as such by the people who tries to help the ill person, aka Kumiko. However, from the point of view of the afflicted, the nice people who tries to help them are just parasites who try to destroy their beautiful fantasy. Therefore, I think the film can be viewed as either beautiful or sad depending on who the viewer choose to associate with. If I am correct, this film is very well written and an nuanced portrayal of mental illness. I may be wrong, though!

Anyway, Kumiko the treasure hunter may be well written, its well acted and beautifully shot. As its often the case with american indie film, it is also interesting... but not that much enjoyable. I'm glad I saw it, though.

Strange film, a real oddball drama with comedy elements

[adamonIMDb · 6/10 · 18 August 2018]

It's difficult to describe or explain 'Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter', because there's nothing quite like it. I'm not even sure how you would categorise this film. Officially it's a drama, but it's also a comedy/adventure and one of very few films that's bleak and depressing yet somehow amusing at the same time. It's a unique film that seems to be aimed at a very specific audience, though who that audience is, however, I'm not quite sure.

'Kumiko' is a slow and subtle film that centers almost entirely around the title character. The mystery and intrigue surrounding her is probably the only thing that makes this otherwise dull film interesting. In fairness, it does for this reason make for quite fascinating viewing, though the viewer does require a lot of patience and much of the subtle humour requires attention to pick up on. 'Kumiko' is a strange film and certainly on the weirdest comedy dramas I've seen.

Interesting character study

[FlorianLaur · 7/10 · 24 June 2020]

Most reviewers seem to prefer the second half of the movie over the first. In it, we see Kumiko in the United States and her isolation and inability to properly understand others doesn't seem quite certain. Does Kumiko really not understand much English? Or are we only supposed to believe it?

Right after she lands, she is approached by a religious group. As soon as she knows that those guys aren't going to help her to reach her one goal (to get to Fargo and find her treasure), she leaves. The same thing happens with other people she meets. She is focused and driven by her wish to find the treasure and one might wonder if the treasure isn't more of a metaphor for something else.

I for one actually liked the first half. I spent a few months in Tokyo and although it is a great city with friendly people, I couldn't help but feel a certain isolation and loneliness, even though I was living with my girlfriend at the time. I can somewhat imagine what it must be like for Kumiko to live there. The Japanese society is a harsh and demanding one. Everyone has their place and function. This can come in handy, as people don't require to be very responsible or make a lot of tough choices, society or work will do that for you.

But for an illness such as depression, living in Tokyo or a similar city is hell. Society will consider you as lazy or a failure and for yourself, it will be soulcrushing and tiresome to go through all the motions and fake niceties that exist. From what I've seen, Japanese can be quite harsh with other people, although they carry a smile.

For someone like Kumiko, this might explain why she comes off as selfish by some reviewers. In Japan, she has little choice (and what little freedom or choice she does get, like not accepting her friends number or bailing on her or disposing of some tuxedos) and people judge her (at the office, her mom) or pity her at best (at the library).

In the US, she has no cultural restrictions. She can be "selfish" and pursue what she actually wants. Back in Japan, no one can understand that.

So to me, this pursuit of a treasure is much more a pursuit of being an individual, someone who may not fit into the expectations of others. And is it any wonder that the few creatures who really get to her are unselfish, sincere beings, such as her bunny or the policeman, who seemingly have no expectations and just let her be Kumiko?

An eccentric experience for fans of surreal arts and experimental Asian cinema

[kluseba · 7/10 · 17 July 2015]

"Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter" is a stunning movie that mixes dramatic elements with a very special kind of humour. It also portrays the clash of Eastern and Western cultures and includes a thought-provoking dose of social criticism. Based upon an urban legend, this film is carried by its unusual and almost surreal plot and main actress Kikuchi Rinko who plays her role in a credible and gripping manner.

The movie tells the story of the antisocial office lady Kumiko from Tokyo. She lives alone with her rabbit Bunzo who seems to be the only living being she cares about. She suffers from a bad relationship to her mother who puts a lot of pressure on her and expects her daughter to get married and promoted as soon as possible since she is already in her late twenties. Kumiko refuses to develop any relationship to old classmates, colleagues or singles. At her job, she despises her boss who tells her that she is getting too old to be his personal assistant. Kumiko has no future and starts to escape from the sinister reality by watching movies in her small apartment. One day, she discovers an old VHS copy of the American movie "Fargo" hidden in a cave next to a beach. Kumiko doesn't quite understand the real story behind the movie and believes that the treasure hidden in the film exists for real. She tries to get more information about the locations of the film in an awkward way. One day, she decides to simply take a plane to Minnesota by using the credit card of her company. She arrives in the United States of America and lives a cultural shock that only gets worse when her credit card gets blocked. Kumiko continues her journey without any money, very poor English skills and no clue where she really needs to search for her treasure. She meets a lot of weird characters from solitary widows to deaf cab drivers, gets confronted with weird sects and unpleasant restaurant owners and discovers new locations from shabby second hand shops to isolated chairlifts on her adventurous journey to Fargo.

Apart of the exciting locations, the very solid strong cast, the unpredictable plot, the topics of the clash of cultures and the sinister portrait of a solitary woman, this movie convinces with a more and more surreal atmosphere that leads to an intriguing ending that can be interpreted in different ways.

On the other side, the film has a very slow pace and notable lengths despite its short length. The movie lacks true highlights and doesn't have any real action or tension. Despite the great acting performance by Kikuchi Rinko, it's difficult to identify with the repulsive and weird main character and to get an emotional connection to the film.

In the end, I can only recommend this movie to fans of surreal arts and Asian cinema. Don't watch this movie because you liked "Fargo" because there isn't any real connection between this film and the popular original apart of the weird treasure hunt plot and a few locations. Personally, I had a unique experience watching this eccentric movie in the key of David Cronenberg, David Lynch and maybe Denis Villeneuve but I wouldn't revisit it anytime soon.

Viewing the world through a whole different perspective

[Neossir · 9/10 · 5 March 2014]

Kumiko, a Japanese employee, has only one hobby : treasures. She doesn't have any friends, and is really bored by her job. After seeing a VHS of "Fargo", she decides to travel to North Dakota to find the money hidden by Carl Showalter in the movie.

This movie is an excellent piece of work. Rinko Kikuchi appears under a new face with this introvert and amazing character, inspired by a true story.

David Zellner really did a good job of balancing comedy and drama : never exaggeratively funny, nor never desperately sad, the directing is very subtle and finds its own way to create an atmosphere around the point of view of an unusual character that sees the work differently than most of people do.

Which is, sometimes, really refreshing.

What do you treasure?

[bruce-149 · 7/10 · 30 March 2015]

Leaving the theater, all I could think of was how sad this film it was. Kumiko is all around us; the people who hate their jobs, their bosses, the fake public faces that our lives cause us to wear. What does Kumiko do? She Takes a bedspread stolen from a hotel room and wears it like a samurai cape, as she crosses a bleak and barren American landscape in the dead of winter.

Kumiko believed in a treasure. She's suffering from depression, loneliness, and alienation. She comes to believe a piece of the movie Fargo is real. It is the culmination of all these blows to a personality that is already nearly extinguished. She must have one last shred of hope.

I laughed at various points during the film, but each time I did, I felt bad about it, as I knew there was no salvation here. Some may argue the ending does give rise to hope. I did not feel that. Kumiko may have been reborn, rising from the snow like a Phoenix, but the truth is that for so many of us, chasing a dream does not always mean your dream is fulfilled.

The "Could Have Been Great" Movie

[sbjalr0812-745-637907 · 3/10 · 30 March 2015]

As I started to watch this movie I was really excited, I was totally relating to the character and was thinking it's kind of gonna be like a mash up of one of those awesome Japanese classic movies like Ikiru where the guy is in this dead end job as a public servant and his soul has been sucked out by life but he finds love at the end before he dies of cancer, combined with a great American movie like Fargo, where themes of Good and Evil get explored leaving us happy, satisfied and entertained. I think it could have been a great movie exploring Japanese and American cultures through the magic of movies. But it was like the girl starts as a depressed, repressed office worker who get gets put down a lot - she stays depressed? Where I was rooting for her to find her freedom she runs away, she leaves a small child alone in a restaurant, she leaves her bunny on a subway, she is not grateful for the people who along the way who are kind to her when they didn't need to be, she should have froze to death way sooner than she did. She starts off childish, depressed and insane she ends up - childish, depressed and insane. Where there could have been a turn around, there was not one. The movie dragged on forever and I'm not sorry I watched it because the movie that could have been kept me interested even though it never happened. I get it that we need more understanding of mental illness, but really I'm not sure that it gave us that even. Some of the plot points were unrealistic, the performance was great but it could have been like a Japanese Marge.

Bizarre, haunting, darkly comedic, and powerful.

[Nic_Dread_Wolf_Marling · 8/10 · 19 June 2015]

Kumiko is a droll and often disengaged work. Taking it's central idea from a media misstep on a true story Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter takes a path of solitude and contemplation. It's not often that a film is so rudimentary in it's storytelling while being so proficient in setting it's world and reeling you into it. Kumiko is anchored by a great performance from Rinko Kikuchi. One that often treads the line of stoicism while being peppered with flashes of perfect comedic timing and emotional unrest. A difficult performance to hold down, and Kikuchi does so, at times, masterfully.

In Kumiko we are shown time and time again how mundane and unfulfilled her life has become. Kumiko needs something. Some sense of purpose. An adventure. She finds this in her belief that she can recover the buried money, or treasure, from the film Fargo. A truly preposterous starting off point for a story and one that could only be from a misunderstood quote from a real life event. Yes, the basis for this film is indeed rooted in reality. Albeit a misconstrued footnote from the tragic life of Takako Konishi.

Director David Zellner leads this film with great aplomb. His pacing is painstakingly slow though it is very much so deliberate. He lulls the viewer into a state of near boredom to drive home the mundane life Kumiko is enduring. His pairing with cinematographer Sean Porter could very well result in a masterwork in the near future. The two of them lens this film to perfection. Every shot is a gorgeous wonder to look at. Kumiko is often center frame on full display for all to see. This is important as she is a nobody in her life, yet here on this journey of her's she is the subject of interest. Their positioning of her here is quite brilliant. The snow riddled landscapes of Minnesota and North Dakota are beautifully majestic as the backdrop of Kumiko's treasure hunt.

Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter is a bizarre, haunting, darkly comedic, and powerful journey of a troubled individual looking to up the ante on the flop out of a poor hand having been dealt by life. Gorgeously shot and brilliantly performed by it's lead this sure to be polarizing film is an experience to behold. It's creeping pace will offset some, but ultimately there is more than enough here to make it's duration worth your while. 8/10.

U-turn

[TheOneThatYouWanted · 6/10 · 20 November 2021]

Way too serious and not a fun rub. The problem is the film has a very corky plot and setting but takes a u-turn in an attempt to make a point. But the build up, and the script doesn't hold enough weight to pack the punch that the last quarter of the film was attending to pull off.

Score points for bleak portrait of American heartland but urban legend narrative would have been better as a 30 minute short

[Turfseer · 4/10 · 26 February 2015]

Maybe I'm a little critical, but I wonder what motivates a filmmaker to make a film such as "Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter." Visually it's a very nice looking film, especially the scenes focusing on the bleak, American heartland. But story wise, I wonder, what's the point?

"Kumiko" is about a narcissistic, troubled Japanese woman who becomes obsessed with the film "Fargo," and comes to believe that a large amount of money that's buried by a character in the film (played by a young Steve Buscemi), actually exists. So Kumiko decides to quit her job in Tokyo and travel to Fargo to find the "buried treasure."

"Kumiko" is actually based on the true story of Takako Tonishi, a Tokyo office worker who traveled to the cities of Bismarck, Fargo and finally Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, where she committed suicide after being depressed over the breakup with her former lover, an American businessman, who she had last seen in Detroit Lakes, on an earlier trip.

The story that Takako was seeking the buried treasure from the "Fargo" movie developed from an urban legend that sprung up following a miscommunication that Takako had with a police officer from Bismarck, North Dakota. The officer misunderstood what Takako was trying to tell him and came to believe she was searching for the buried treasure from "Fargo."

How then are we supposed to view "Kumiko?" Should she be viewed sympathetically as she must endure a demeaning boss, her nagging mother and scornful co-workers? Or is she simply a deluded simpleton who actually comes to believe "Fargo" is not a work of fiction? The climax perhaps gives us a hint as to where director David Zellner's sympathies lie: indeed, Kumiko does find the money from "Fargo," but the implication is that it's all a fantasy—that she tragically died in the snow, pursuing a futile obsession.

At best, "Kumiko" is the bullied child who chooses to live her life in a fantasy world. It's hard to have sympathy however, for such a sad sack, who cuts everyone off around her and risks death to obtain a pointless, materialistic goal.

Zellner wins points for conveying the bleak environment of his protagonist but her one-note obsession could have easily been made as a 30 minute short.

Beautiful and fantastical: She's driven like the blanketing white snow.

[JohnDeSando · 8 April 2015]

"It is my destiny." Kumiko (Rinko Kikuchi)

Kumiko, finding a hidden VHS copy of Fargo (1996), leaves Tokyo to go to N. Dakota to find the film's buried treasure. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, is as fine a fantasy as you will find outside of the Disney Empire, and more insightful. Based upon an urban legend about a Japanese tourist who froze to death seeking the treasure, a bit of the Coen brothers' fabulous story lingers in this equally endearing tale.

Kumiko's a lost 29 year-old soul looking for the end of the rainbow--a little like most of us with dreams or bucket lists just beyond our grasp—but we'll still dream of them or actually pursue the dream in the face of insurmountable odds. Kumiko at her job is distanced from her peers and an enigma to her boss, who lets her go with the company credit card because she is depressed, and he needs to fill her "office lady" spot with a younger model.

As she's reminded along her journey, the film Fargo is just fiction, and the town not a pleasant time to be in winter. Yet, Kumiko persists with help from a kindly old lady (Shirley Venard), who would rather take her to The Mall of America, and deputy sheriff (director Zellner), whose motives are pure as the driven snow that covers the land. That snow gradually overcomes every scene with purity and menace, a blank slate upon which her dream can come true and nature, human and otherwise, can send her to oblivion if it wishes.

Looking a little like Red Riding Hood, she's the opposite of realists, who see Kumiko's folly yet cannot stop her drive to get to Fargo and the buried loot.

The film is a Seinfeld variant because nothing happens except the most profoundly simple occurrences strengthening Kumiko's resolve and making us believers in her Quixote-like quest. For the lost Tokyo soul with only a pet bunny rabbit as Panza-like friend, Kumiko seeks to fulfill her fantasy, the naysayers be damned. (She likens herself to a Spanish Conquistador.) She hurts no one, and when at last she smiles, you know her quest is valuable only to her, a symbol of her achieving something in life to set her apart from boring normalcy.

This film works as allegory, applying to all who should hold on to their dreams if only for themselves. Otherwise, it's a delightful tale acted perfectly, a treat to please our fancy and remind us about private dreams that keep us going.

That "Fargo" money can't be of anyone!!!!

[rajatdahiyax · 7/10 · 1 August 2015]

In this darkly comedic odyssey, Academy Award nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel, Pacific Rim) stars as Kumiko, a frustrated Office Lady whose imagination transcends the confines of her mundane life. Kumiko becomes obsessed with a mysterious, battered VHS tape of a popular film she's mistaken for a documentary, fixating on a scene where a suitcase of stolen cash is buried in the desolate, frozen landscape of North Dakota. Believing this treasure to be real, she leaves behind Tokyo and her beloved rabbit Bunzo to recover it - and finds herself on a dangerous adventure unlike anything she's seen in the movies. With Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, indie mavericks the Zellner Bros. spin a strangely touching underdog fable, populated by eccentrics and elevated to sonic heights by a Sundance award-winning score from electro-indie outfit The Octopus Project, that will leave audiences rooting for the impossible.

Fargo isn't the answer

[jeroduptown · 7/10 · 12 August 2021]

Wildly depressing, slow and somehow engaging all at the same time. Kumiko is a wildly mislead woman faced with the cultural challenges of being single and not passionate about her work - when Fargo sparks her sense of adventure.

a Japanese take on Nebraska?

[kmonfared · 7/10 · 15 December 2018]

Oh wait, did this come out before Nebraska? Anyways, a comedy that doesn't let you laugh. It's well done, half-open-endedness is nice. Some characters are a little exaggerated but that matched the style of the movie. Overall, it's a fun watch and definitely worth it.

Fargo fans

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 30 July 2022]

Kumiko (Rinko Kikuchi) is an odd 29 year old "office lady". She lives alone with her rabbit in Tokyo. She hates her job. Her mother is constantly pushing her to get married or return home to live with her. Her boss also suggests that she gets married as he expects her job to be given to a younger girl. She is obsessed with a found VHS copy of the fictional movie Fargo (1996). She accepts the opening text that this is a true story. She sees the film as a treasure map to the suitcase of money buried in the snow out in the middle of nowhere.

This is a compelling character study and a cultural study of Japan. She is still a bitter pill to take although she is sometimes amusing. The fish out of water aspect is fun. It's an interesting indie.

Beautifully shot, marred by loud soundtrack

[mel_bear · 8/10 · 23 July 2014]

Not knowing anything about this movie beforehand I was very pleasantly surprised. It starts with what could have just been another Japanese "horror out of the TV" movie but it quickly turns into a beautifully shot road movie with brilliant actress Rinko Kikuchi in virtually every scene. The photography reproduced on the giant digital screen is breathtaking. With minimal cutting and extended static shots this is visually very impressive. Unfortunately the film was marred by an extremely loud music soundtrack. Sometimes less is better. I would have preferred silence. As there was very little dialogue the movie would then get to speak for itself.

Self-deception with a sublime ending.

[softsofa · 6/10 · 13 May 2018]

How can you help someone that is fixated on a delusion?

Kumiko, an aging (ie. near 30) office lady in Japan, decides to follow her dream. That dream is that the fictional movie "Fargo" is a documentary and she means to find the money that is buried in it.

As she journeys, people give her suggestions, all of which would have ended this story happily. As it is, the ending is simultaneously the saddest happy ending and the happiest sad ending of any movie I can recall.

Lost treasure

[tigerfish50 · 1/10 · 11 May 2015]

Kumiko is a lowly Tokyo office worker, deeply depressed and divorced from reality, who lives in a squalid apartment with her pet rabbit Bunzo. After watching a scene in the Coen Brothers' film 'Fargo', she becomes convinced a money-filled briefcase has been buried by the side of a road in rural North Dakota. When her boss gives her a credit card to buy his wife a birthday present, she purchases a plane ticket to Minneapolis, and sets off to find this treasure in the middle of winter.

The film has similarities to Jim Jarmusch's 'Dead Man', and its trailer suggests Kumiko's journey is a metaphysical allegory of self-discovery, but that's just a red herring. After arriving in America, she's helped on her way by an older woman, a state trooper and a deaf taxi driver who receive little gratitude in return. These characters may or may not represent her mother, father, boss or Bunzo - but their banal exchanges don't provide any clues to the origin of her psychological issues. In the hands of a director like David Lynch, these encounters would have been full of dark humor, tension and symbolic meaning, but Kumiko's odyssey contains none of this. Writer/director Zellner gives his heroine minimal emotional range, and Rinko Kikuchi's acting skills are wasted on this glib fable. Many long minutes are spent watching her trudge through the snow dressed like a deranged shaman until she eventually reaches her destiny. There's a good idea hiding in this story, but it remains unrealized, and the predictable ending arrives just as terminal boredom becomes a serious problem.

An unusual American Dream story. 'Kumiko' continues 'Fargo's corruption of money theme.

[Sergeant_Tibbs · 8/10 · 21 July 2015]

I wonder what the Coen brothers think to this film - besides the fact they apparently didn't credit the use of the scenes from Fargo. Not that anyone would mistake it for anything else. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter has one of the most absurd setups for such an otherwise archetypal story. If there wasn't such a well known case of it actually happening, it would be difficult to swallow. It's simultaneously an American Dream and a culture rejection story that would make Ozu proud. In her pursuit for unimaginable riches, Kumiko neglects all aspects and expectations of her life, burning bridges every step of the way. It's a harsh examination of modern standards for young Asian women subverted with a 'gold rush' trope.

Kumiko is of course the least likely suspect for this journey, but that makes it more engaging than anyone else. While it feels like she gets out of situations by literally escaping without much of a scratch too often, its frequency paints a portrait of how far she's getting to each point of no return. In true Coen fashion, its fleeting supporting cast are memorably eccentric and provide much of the humour while lead Rinko Kikuchi provides the gravitas of the drama, taking the bizarre quest sincerely in every step. The photography is exquisite, contrasting the two worlds but putting America in the same tone and pace as Japan. Kumiko is a great tribute to the Coen's study of the corruption of money, building on it in the most out of the box way.

8/10

ne must give credit for Zellner brothers' courage and ingenuity to make such a far-fetched fable leave an indelible mark in viewer's mind

[lasttimeisaw · 7/10 · 27 July 2015]

This indie feature opens with a blurred VHS tape showing - the film is based on a true story, which actually is from Coen brothers' FARGO (1996, 9/10), has its implicit double meaning, because the film itself is a reinterpretation of a real-life event about our centre character Kumiko (Kikuchi), a 29-year-old office lady in Tokyo, who is hooked by FARGO's scenes where a briefcase of cash is stashed in the snow land by Steve Buscemi's Carl Showalter, firmly believes it is her destiny to retrieve the money and embarks on a journey to USA.

With such a tall tale as the precondition, one naturally will doubt Kumiko's sanity, the first half is about her life in Tokyo, stuck in a dead-end job, with her mother keeps nagging on the phone about her unfit situation of being single and urging her to move back living with her, Kumiko is an introvert loner, which even in Japan, she is very jarring with the reality, her only friend is a pet bunny named Bunzo, (the cutest bunny I've ever seen and a great animal actor too!). Her life is hopeless apart from her obsession of FARGO's hidden treasure. As we acquaint with her miserable quandary, her behaviour furthermore nonpluses us, she insists on getting the map of Minnesota on an atlas so as to steals it in the library, as for any sane person, it is quite easy to make a photocopy instead. This interlude offers a clear statement on her saneness, so when she embezzles her company's credit card and boards the plane for her quest which starts the second half (being a Chinese, I'm super jealous of Japanese can acquire a USA visa so effortlessly), we can sense it will not end well for her, although the parting sequences with Bunzo is so heartbreaking to watch, at one moment, I even thought she would throw it in front of an approaching metro.

Yet, the hospitality of Minnesota citizens (a patent opposite of Tokyo's frigid person-to- person aura) is overwhelmingly cordial to a foreigner who can only utter simple English and doesn't even bring enough clothes for the freezing cold weather, she encounters a kind older woman (Venard), a helpful sergeant (director David Zellner himself), a deaf taxi driver (Hall) who doesn't even chase her when she escapes without paying the fare, through her one-track mind journey, but runs away whenever they deny her pipe dream, but not enough kindness can save her suicidal trek. Wearing a tacky quill walking aimlessly to her doom, Kumiko's dedication is unerring because the reality is too cruel for her to wake up and face the music, so she must go to Fargo, to collect the money and start anew (only there is no place for her in this vast world), thus, Zellner fabricates a dreamlike finale where Kumiko not only finds what she is looking for and reunites with Bunzo as well. But it is not a gratifying happy ending since it is an impossible mission under that absurd context, on the contrary, through which, the fancy wish-fulfilment exudes much more visceral pathos, as we all can access a bleak mental picture of Kumiko's fate.

Directed by David Zellner and written with her brother Nathan, this tale of woe has done a commendable job to foreground the cultural disparity within its minimalistic modus operandi apart from establishing itself as a deterrent of how loneliness can eventually erode one's mentality. Rinko Kikuchi, finally lands another great role stateside that can match her Oscar-nominated performance in BABEL (2006, 8/10), still not relying on line-delivery, her body language and facial expression is wondrously tapped. Certainly, the film can be panned for its patience-testing spuriousness, and the calculated characterisation which is shopworn in indie shock-drama, but one must give credit for Zellner brothers' courage and ingenuity to, say the very least, make such a far-fetched fable leave an indelible mark in viewer's mind.

A movie that peters out in dullness

[hond-92064 · 5/10 · 21 June 2015]

A movie that starts well, but in the end is a big disappointment. The basic building blocks are good: a troubled and unbalanced Japanese woman is convinced she has spotted something worth investigating and following, presumably because it will get her out of the dreary life she is shackled to. The story then takes one or two slight turns and runs out in an ending that has not only been done hundreds of times in the past, but has been done mostly much better that this one. The result is that one is left convinced that the makers of the tale did not actually know how to end it and went for the first (and cheapest) escape that will hopefully leave some people with a vague suspicion that the ending may be "deep". It is not. It is merely flat and disappointing. This movie had a phase (when Kumiko meets a sympathetic policemen in a snow covered landscape) when it could have gone somewhere, but it did not. It took the much traveled path towards its vague and boring end. It is mostly wasted time to watch this movie.