Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter Movie Download

3 / 10

Isn’t a comedy supposed to be funny and interesting?
Kumiko the Treasure Hunter is based, in very small part, on a story that was circulated after the film Fargo debuted. A Japanese woman reportedly left everything and moved to the Minnesota/Dakota area in an insane search for the treasure that was buried in snow in the film Fargo. Apparently, she thought that the film was 100% real and it was speaking to her and urging her to drop everything to find the money. There are two huge problems with this. First, although Fargo says it’s a true story–so there’s no treasure. Second, the dead woman found in Minnesota (Takako Konishi) had a life that was nothing like the story of Kumiko. So regardless of what you think of all this, please understand this is all myth.

A film can be based on urban legends and still be compelling. Is this one? To put it bluntly, no. Although the camera-work in this film is wonderful and is clearly the highlight of the story, the plot is very tough to endure. The first portion of the movie consists of Kumiko (Rinko Kikuchi) staring into space, barely going through the motions at her job and obsessing over the film Fargo. It’s obvious that the character is both clinically depressed as well as losing contact with reality. But this part of the film lasts half the movie. As a result, it’s painfully slow and easily could have been done in ten minutes or less. Because of this, my attention frequently flagged and this would most likely be true for most viewers.

The second half consists of Kumiko stealing her company credit card and heading off to the States without planning it in the least. Armed only with a DVD of Fargo and no winter clothing, she lands in Minnesota (which is very far from Fargo, North Dakota) and wanders about aimlessly. Some folks try to help her, but Kimiko is mentally ill and just keeps wandering off into the freezing cold snow.

If all of this sounds pretty dull, you pretty much understand why I was so unimpressed by the movie. I honestly cannot see many people sitting through the entire film because of its slow pacing and threadbare plot. Plus, finding any sense of meaning behind all this is difficult, if not impossible. The bottom line is that I DO love strange, quirky films (many of which are Japanese films), this film is just too slow, tedious and ‘anti-fun’, I cannot recommend it even if the winter camera-work was outstanding and the story unusual.Read More