For their latest cinematic effort, sibling filmmakers David and Nathan Zellner have stripped back a story passed down through Internet message boards, telling of the curious journey of one Japanese woman who travels to the other side of the world to find treasure. Together as screenwriters, they filled in the gaps of this urban online legend and David set about directing Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. Kumiko (played by Rinko Kikuchi) is a lonely woman who lives in a box flat in busy Tokyo with her pet rabbit. She has no boyfriend and, at almost thirty years old, is still working as an office girl. These are things she is constantly reminded of by those around her (her mother, her boss) though it seems she prefers no company at all if the alternative involves being roped into asinine, hackneyed conversation with old friends, best avoided.
In any case, her mind and heart are set on bigger, more wondrous things. Simultaneously overcome and underwhelmed by the ever increasing disappointing burden of reality, she envelopes herself in fantasy, a fervent belief that the suitcase full of money – her treasure – in the Coen brothers’ 1996 film Fargo is in fact real. After months of religiously studying a VHS copy of the film and plotting her moves, she ups from the cramped confines of Tokyo, with a carefully knitted map in hand, to the wide expanse of Minnesota. Desperate for a sense of importance and purpose which she cannot inherit from a culture which traditionally places higher importance in marriage and children, she navigates a different path within her own unique, revered utopia.
In a way, Kumiko is a peculiar adventure story – in truth, more of a non-adventure of sorts in the sense that it is absent of a rollercoaster of crises, steadily crescendoing in dramatic intrigue. We witness more of a long, slow march: the weeks of Fargo-studying leading up to her taking the first plunge of her journey; the constant stalling intrusion of people she meets along the way who are understandably sceptical of her mission, imploring her to instead stay and indulge in lesser activities; the socio-cultural battles of sexual discrimination, and the brutality of the Minnesotan nature forcing upon her a remote, unyielding walk to her journey’s end. The occasional cacophony of sound maps her pain and frustration as she attempts to reach the treasure, resolute pilgrim to the end, and an unsettling, atmospheric score charts her wanderings, bleeding into this sound design.
This is not to imply that we are not captivated by her journey – it maintains its own quiet kind of struggle and triumph. Considering the crew of American directors and producers, the authenticity of this Japanese-rooted feature holds steady with almost entirely Japanese dialogue and subtle nods, perhaps unintentional, towards Japanese thriller with scenes awash with bleak absence in the icy remoteness coupled with moments of acute and heightened confused panic. Kumiko herself, so deliberate and determined, displays a childlike kind of innocence heartened by the strength of her belief in her cause. Whether or not Kumiko has actually uncovered the mysterious treasure in the end is really entirely besides the point. The main thing is that she believes she’s made it; that finally she has found her purpose and validity.
Director: David Zellner
Writers: David Zellner, Nathan Zellner
Stars: Rinko Kikuchi, Nobuyuki Katsube, Shirley Venard
Runtime: 105 min
Country: USA
Film Rating: 
