Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
| 13 November 2014 (USA)
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter Trailers

Frustrated with her mundane life, a Tokyo office worker becomes obsessed with a fictional movie that she mistakes for a documentary. Fixating on a scene where stolen cash is buried in North Dakota, she travels to America to find it.

Reviews
Reno Rangan

The rumours always adds lots interesting stuffs than the actual news. Sometime we feel that should have been real, because of the sunning depth that even a real story can't match. That's why the false information spreads like a virus on the social media. This movie character was inspired by a real young woman from Japan, but not the real event. An urban legend surround her visit to Minnesota, United States, back in the 2001.I have seen many films of different versions of the same events or the persons, but I never heard of this one before. So after the watch I did a little research on the original and I thought this film looked much better than that, especially for the movie it supplied a fine story material. Still a very much predictable, but for an entertainment purpose, it did decently.It was a beautiful adventure-drama. The main character is just like the one from 'Citizen Dog' or 'Amelie'. Kumiko is an innocent and a solitude woman in the twilight of her 20s. Her life is not so good, with having no friends or a boyfriend, pressure from her mother and at work, she decides to chase an unexpected dream after learning about the treasure from the tape she finds in a seaside. That leads her to travel halfway across the world to an unfamiliar territory and what follows is her desperate drive to achieve the undertaking."I discover treasure. Right here. It's mine."The end was heartbreaking, only if you understood it clearly. Though I'm not going to reveal anything about that part as it might spoil if you have not it yet. But there's no declaration in the opening or before the end credits about whether it was a real or what actually happened in the end. Lots of scenes make no sense, and gives the impression of the girl is so dumb. Also leaves many unanswered questions behind which is the negative side of the narration. That's what you get in an urban myth, a collective tale and each slice of it is someone's creation/prediction based on the original evidence that is not understood properly.The story might be Americas, but due to the Japanese lead character, the entire film was in Japanese with English subtitle and very often some English line with the American characters. Besides, it looks more a Japanese film than the Hollywood's. The 'Pacific Rim' star Rinko Kikuchi was outstanding in the title role. The direction was good, the director also appeared in a small role as a cop. In fact, that was a big one for this movie where a small role can impact on the high level.Even a ten year old can differentiate what is real and what's not from a movie he watches in this world. Whatever the girl from the movie believed in is simply a fictional account and an entertainment for us, so don't expect it to be an uplifting movie. As I said it was based on a speculation of some real incident, but a well made movie except not detailing everything they have shown. It got a mixed response with mostly positive feedbacks, but my take on it is definitely good. And finally, this movie is not for everyone, if you decide to watch, try not to analyse it deeply.8/10

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DogFilmCritic

After i finished watching this film i kept asking the same question over and over... what was the point? We see the life of a social outcast Kumiko which is dissatisfied with her life, we see that she lives a reclusive life, she is obsessed with film FARGO. She sees the movie thousands of times to locate the suitcase with the money that was hidden by the character of Steve Buscemi. She is convinced that the film is real for reasons...The main theme in the movie is loneliness in all its forms,in the case of Kumiko it is self imposed, she does not connect with the world around her,because thats how she feels inside, they do not really give us a reason why she feels that way. Still she seeks a purpose in life and feels that finding this treasure will do so, it is better to find purpose in something false than knowing that there is non at all. that's the dilemma in this movie.But what would have happened after she found the treasure. Kumiko was never interested in anything but finding the treasure what would be the point in life onwards? Many people give positive reviews to this film but they do not ask the real questions, why was Kumiko the way she was, if she suffered a mental illness. There is much tragedy in the movie but I do not feel bad for her,she chose to be as she wanted to and everything around her was a result of her decisions alone.Definitely not for everyone,particularly if you seek concrete explanations, watch it for what it is and what it tries to say and find your own conclusions.

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Michael Radny

Kumiko is a film about a Japanese girl who hasn't conformed to the norms of the Japanese traditions. By doing this she has been isolated and shamed, so she decides to head to America to find "The Treasure", using the movie "Fargo" as a map. The problem with Kumiko is not the story itself, but just how random her actions are. At times you feel detached from the movie, given this is a movie about detachment and depravity, but the story seems to go a little bit too off track for my liking.Kumiko, however, is a good film to watch. It's immensely somber and achieves the atmosphere well. One other thing I will mention, however, is the portrayal of the main character, Kumiko; it is absolutely fantastic.

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Oliver Davidson

I loved this film for its surreal story line and beautiful photography. Its about a girl who seems to be detached from the outside world and uninterested in engaging with work colleagues, family or old friends. She leads what seems to be a lonely life in a small apartment which she shares with her pet rabbit. One of the beautiful things about the film is that you can never really tell what Kumiko is thinking, or what her emotional state is. The film starts with Kumiko walking to a beach and using a map to locate what we expect to be treasure, but in fact is an old VHS copy of Fargo. This is the source of her inspiration to go hunting for the treasure hidden in that film. There are many great scenes and to me this is an instant classic. I particularly like Kumiko's determination and conviction when everyone else is telling her she is mad. She is a really interesting character.

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