[Last Film I Watch] Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014) [7/10]
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Independent Films
lasttimeisaw — 10 years ago(July 27, 2015 10:54 AM)
Title: Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
Year: 2014
Country: USA
Language: English, Japanese
Genre: Drama
Director: David Zellner
Writers:
David Zellner
Nathan Zellner
Music: The Octopus Project
Cinematography: Sean Porter
Cast:
Rinko Kikuchi
David Zellner
Nobuyuki Katsube
Shirley Venard
Kanako Higashi
Nathan Zellner
Phil Hall
Rating: 7/10
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 FARGOs scenes where a briefcase of cash is stashed in the snow land by Steve Buscemis 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 Kumikos 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 Ive ever seen and a great animal actor too!). Her life is hopeless apart from her obsession of FARGOs 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 companys credit card and boards the plane for her quest which starts the second half (being a Chinese, Im 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 Tokyos frigid person-to-person aura) is overwhelmingly cordial to a foreigner who can only utter simple English and doesnt 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 doesnt 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, Kumikos 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 Kumikos 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 ones 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 viewers mind.
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