[Ruby Hornet will be at Sundance Film Festival 2014 providing coverage of the festival’s 30th year. Keep it tuned to Ruby Hornet this week as we share reviews, interviews, photos, and more at one of the country’s largest film festivals.]
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
Directors: David Zellner
Rating: N/A
Release Date: January 20, 2014 (Sundance)
Films affect us in the most mysterious ways. For some, we find inspiration and influence in the art form. For others, we’re absorbed into the universe and fall in love with the romantic notions of a cinematic life. There’s no denying the effect art has on our everyday lives, but we can’t succumb into the fictional universes infiltrating our minds. Exactly how far can we allow films to affect us?
Kumiko (Rinko Kinkuchi) is a loner with no real direction in life. While the rest of her co-workers genuinely love their positions as office workers, she doesn’t find the same joy out of the monotony of her day-to-day life. Even her Mother constantly rains doubt onto her, badgering Kumiko about her lack of drive and interest in marrying and starting a family. There are only two beams of light in Kumiko’s life: her bunny, Bunzo, and a delusional plan to unearth the buried treasure in The Coen Brothers’ Fargo. Exactly how far Kumiko lets her delusions take over could represent the turning point she desperately needs in her life, no matter the ramifications.
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter is set up as a road film, with the first half of the film taking place in Japan and the second taking place in Minnesota. The main source of conflict in the film harkens to the ideals of the Japanese social structure and how Kumiko simply doesn’t fit into it. The rigors of finding a good job, a good husband, and beginning a family at a young age carry over Kumiko’s head like an unrelenting raincloud. She finds her escape through the Coen Brothers classic, both figuratively and literally, ultimately falling down the rabbit’s hole on a journey that, for better or worse, is heartbreaking in how delusional her psyche really is. Kinkuchi, best known for her role as Mako Mori in last year’s Pacific Rim, deftly carries the weight of the film on her shoulders, her physical and emotional vulnerability complementing her character’s.
Another high point of Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter is not found in the film’s plot or acting, but in its soundtrack. Indie/electronic band The Octopus Project scored the film with its airy, atmospheric music matching Kumiko’s quiet journey from Japan to Minnesota. The film received a Jury Award for their Musical Score, and it’s not hard to see why.
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter is a sad character study. Every break in which you expect to find Kumiko snap out from her fantasy world is shattered whenever she makes a self-assured decision to continue on her journey. Yet, in spite of acknowledging that the journey won’t end well, you can’t help but cheer her on and hope that somehow, someway, there really is a treasure underneath that X.