Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter: Heartbreaking and enigmatic

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter

Director: David Zellner

Starring: Rinko Kikuchi, Nobuyuki Katsube, Shirley Venard

Running time: 105 mins

The words enigmatic and confounding don’t even begin to cover David Zellner’s film, which could be about mental illness, the tyranny of conformity, or simply the dangers of getting lost in a fantasy world when reality bites a little too hard. Far easier to grasp is that Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter is a haunting and ultimately heartbreaking work; one that boasts a fine lead performance from Pacific Rim’s Rinko Kikuchi, some stunning visuals (courtesy of cinematographer Sean Porter) and an eerie, unsettling soundtrack.  

Kumiko is an “office lady” working in Tokyo for a boss she despises. With no interest in promotion, marriage or human company, she feels utterly alienated from her work-mates, supposed acquaintances and pushy mother. She isn’t lonely as such but rather chooses to be alone and isolated.

The one thing with which she is obsessed is the ’90s Coen Brothers crime movie Fargo, particularly the scene in which Steve Buscemi’s character buries a briefcase full of cash in the Minnesotan snow. She believes if she studies the film hard enough it will reveal to her the location of the case, as if it were some audiovisual treasure map and the events depicted in the movie were real. In the movie’s second half she flies to the States to retrieve the case, a trip for which she is ill-prepared to say the least. Startlingly, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter is loosely based on a true story and it is one you shouldn’t read until after seeing the film as it spoils the ending.

Although she is in almost every scene, you don’t really know any more about the titular character by the end than you did at the beginning. Her backstory is a mystery. If Kumiko is suffering from depression or is struggling with, say, Asperger's Syndrome, no one in her life seems to know anything about it. There’s also a scene in which she literally runs away from a child in a restaurant that hints at something painful in her past. That said, perhaps by even suggesting she might be unwell or disturbed, I’m merely making crass and unhelpful assumptions about someone who, as the Henry David Thoreau quote has it, “hears a different drummer”.  

One thing is clear, Kumiko sees herself as very much the hero of her own story, whether it is a fantasy or not. In the film’s opening scene we see her uncover the bashed-up Fargo video cassette from under a rock in a mysterious cave like some Lara Croft-style adventurer. Is she dreaming it or is it all part of an elaborate game she plays with herself? If this is just her way of escaping an excruciating, humdrum existence, who are we to judge?

Zellner’s film (co-written with his brother and regular collaborator Nathan) poses a lot of interesting questions – ones that stick around in your head for days – but Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter is more than just a puzzle to be picked apart. Kikuchi – Oscar nominated in 2007 for Babel – brings a great vulnerability to the role but Kumiko is also utterly infuriating at times. Being a free spirit can be a terrible pain in the arse for those around you, and her inability to trust, well, anybody makes her seem deeply misanthropic. Despite her behaviour, though, you can’t help but like Kumiko. She’s a rebel – spitting in her vile boss’s coffee and refusing to engage with the vain idiots in her office. Most of all you empathise with the character because she has the guts to leave a life she loathes to follow a dream, however crazy or misguided it may be.

The film’s second half – which sees Kumiko attempting to travel to the real-life Fargo despite speaking little English, having limited funds and no transport – is definitely a case of “be careful what you wish for”. As Kumiko nears her goal she runs into harsh winter conditions – biting cold and deep snow – that she simply isn’t dressed for (at one point, just to stay warm, she has to cut a hole in the middle of a hotel duvet and turn it into a makeshift poncho). Despite being on her uppers, Kumiko continues to keep all comers at arm’s length and when she finally does let someone in (a kindly policeman played by Zellner himself) messes it up by trying to kiss him. Her short-lived “relationship” with the cop is quite telling – he’s probably the only person she encounters in the film who doesn’t either want something from her or expect her to behave in a certain way. It’s little wonder she is so drawn to him.

Rating: WWWW

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter is available now on VOD, DVD and Blu-ray

 Ratings

WWWW = Wonderful

WWW = Worthy

WW = Watchable

W = Woeful

My top 20 movies of the year... so far (part #1)

Blimey, those six months just sped by, didn't they? And with them lots of very, very good films. I don't know whether we've had a stone-cold classic yet but with the likes of Todd Haynes' Carol, Michael Fassbender starring in Macbeth, and Crimson Peak from Guillermo del Toro scheduled for later in the year, there's still plenty to look forward to in 2015. Of all the films I've seen there is only one I can honestly say I hated – American Sniper – but that was more about its lousy politics than Clint Eastwood's skill as a director or the merits of Bradley Cooper as an actor. 

Anyway, the rules here are simple: all films under consideration had to have had a UK cinema release between January 1 and June 30 2015 (to prevent moans of 'But surely that was out last year', I've even included each film's official UK release date, courtesy of launchingfilms.com). No straight to Netflix/Amazon Prime or straight to DVD/Blu-ray movies were considered (sorry, Starry Eyes). 

Not being a professional critic, there are dozens of films I've yet to catch up on that have been released in the last six months (The Falling, White God, and Slow West to name but three) but of those I've seen – 59 as of this morning – these will be my 20 21 favourites. Let's start with numbers 20-11, shall we?

=20. Selma
(Director: Ava DuVernay UK release date: February 6)
The fact David Oyelowo wasn't nominated for an Oscar for his astonishing portrayal of Martin Luther King still sticks in the craw. The rest of this civil rights drama doesn't quite hit the heights of the British actor's performance but is powerful, heartfelt stuff nevertheless.

=20. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
(Director: Roy Andersson UK release date: April 24)
Bizarre comedy following the antics of two dour salesmen as they attempt to flog a range of hopeless novelty items. There isn't a coherent plot as such, just a string of loosely connected sketches each commenting on some aspect of human existence. Gloriously odd.

19. Blind
(Director: Eskil Vogt UK release date: March 27)
Fantasy and reality merge in this extraordinary Swedish film from a first-time writer/director about a young blind woman struggling to come to terms with isolation and paranoia. Boasts a great central performance from Ellen Dorrit Petersen (below)

18. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
(Director: David Zellner UK release date: February 20)
Terrific but elliptical drama charting a young Japanese woman’s quest to find the briefcase full of cash buried by Steve Buscemi’s character in the movie Fargo. Is the titular Kumiko mentally ill or merely so alienated from modern life that taking refuge in fantasy is her only option? 

17. Inherent Vice
(Director: Paul Thomas Anderson UK release date: January 30)
Vague and sprawling, this adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s similarly opaque novel features Joaquin Phoenix at the top of his game. Perhaps a difficult film to truly love but it is nevertheless enormous fun.

16. Jauja
(Director: Lisandro Alonso UK release date: April 10)
A weird and woozy ‘western’ set in the wilds of 19th Century Patagonia and starring Viggo Mortensen (below) as a Danish engineer on a quest to find his missing daughter. I’d be surprised if I saw a more visually stunning movie all year.

15. Wild
(Director: Jean-Marc Vallée UK release date: January 16)
Reese Witherspoon is terrific as an emotionally shattered young woman hiking a thousand miles up America's west coast in a bid to come to terms with her mother's death and the downward spiral it has plunged her into.

14. Foxcatcher
(Director: Bennett Miller UK release date: January 9)
Haunting adaptation of a true story featuring superb performances from a strong cast. Steve Carell is creepiness personified as John E du Pont, the unstable multi-millionaire who founds a wrestling academy to train US Olympic hopefuls. Suffice to say, it doesn’t end well...

13. Wild Tales
(Director: Damián Szifrón UK release date: March 27)
Argentine portmanteau featuring six stories about rage and vengeance. The final sequence centring on the meltdown of a couple’s relationship at their wedding (below) is a tour de force of bleak humour and brutal emotion.

12. The Duke of Burgundy
(Director: Peter Strickland UK release date: February 20)
BDSM and lepidoptery (the study of butterflies and moths) make strange but beguiling bedfellows in this eccentric and gorgeous lesbian relationship drama. Not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.

11. Mad Max: Fury Road 
(Director: George Miller UK release date: May 15)
Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy, pictured at the top of the page) returns to the post-apocalyptic Aussie badlands in a movie for which the term high-octane was surely invented. Charlize Theron’s badass Imperator Furiosa steals the film out from under him though.

Numbers 10-1 coming later in the week...