Review: Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter

by Trevor Kirkendall

★★½

One of my all time favorite movies is the Coen Brother’s 1996 masterpiece “Fargo.” Naturally, a movie coming out today that uses specific elements of “Fargo” as its own MacGuffin definitely piques my interest. And to do so in an inventive way helps further the idea that a wealth of original creative thought still exists if we, as moviegoers, take the time out to actually look for it. Unfortunately in this case, “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter” stalls a little bit in the creativity department, but still ends up being a mostly enjoyable experience.

Rinko Kikuchi (“Babel,” “Pacific Rim”) stars as the title character Kumiko, a woman in her late twenties living in Tokyo where she works in a monotonous dead end job. That’s easily identifiable with about 80% of us, right? You don’t need to be fluent in Japanese to understand that, I’m sure. Kumiko is also enormously obsessed with finding buried treasure in the United States. She believes that the money buried in the snow by Steve Buscemi near the end of “Fargo” really happened and is just waiting for her to come find it. After all, “Fargo” does open with a disclaimer saying the film is a true story (even though it isn’t).

Kumiko refuses to believe that the story is fabricated and really wants to find this money. It’s an obsession that has ruined her social life and her work ethic. She says she’s like a Spanish Conquistador and will stop at nothing to find the treasure. As she travels to Minneapolis, no one wants to help her get to Fargo, where she believes her riches await. The depressing irony in watching this movie is that we all know the money hidden in the snow is as real as the bloody stump of a foot sticking out of the wood chipper in that infamous scene. Only Kumiko believes its there.

It’s actually a very depressing premise when you think about it. This same story probably could have been told under lighter tones and would have been just as effective and maybe a little more enjoyable. Instead, the script is written to be about as dark as humanly possible. It’s still fun to watch, but it’s a hard film to love.

Written by the Zellner Brothers – David and Nathan, and directed by David – “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter” could be seen as a cautionary tale about what happens when our obsessions get the better of us. Kumiko’s work performance suffers, her social life is non-existent, and her mother barely speaks to her, all because she spends her evenings analyzing the scene where Buscemi buries the money.

It’s an interesting idea to address, and one we could all probably reflect on in our own lives. The biggest issue with the film is that Kuminko slowly becomes much more sympathetic than she is empathetic. She’s easily identifiable as the film opens, but as the film continues, she becomes more and more determined to the point where it’s almost insane. This makes you feel just plain bad for her. If a scene here or there had been cut down, the story may have ended before all empathy had been depleted.

The Zellner’s are also a bit heavy handed when it comes to their metaphoric imagery, especially in the film’s finale. There’s nothing wrong with a good metaphor here or there, but it should continually berate you to make sure you understood what they were trying to convey.

Kikuchi is spectacular in this role. She may have even topped her Academy Award nominated performance in the 2006 film “Babel.” She’s the only one on screen throughout the entire film and is able to command your attention in every scene. She holds herself in a timid and reserved posture, speaks softly and broken most of the time but stares her co-stars down with a focused intensity that says she doesn't care what they think about her dream. It is ,most definitely a thrilling performance to behold.

“Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter” is well done and well executed. I even appreciated all the small subtle nods toward the Coen Brothers cult classic as well. It’s just a hard movie to fully embrace as a stand alone film. It’s an interesting premise developed into a very interesting theme, yet somehow the translation into film is very much dark and brooding even while the landscape surrounding our hero is blindingly bright with the snowy Minnesota landscapes.