Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (2014) - David Zellner

From the opening frame of the Zellner Brothers' Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter it's apparent that Kumiko, the main protagonist, is a complete and utter loner.  Kumiko doesn't really talk with her coworkers, being very anti-social and the film early on establishes that even her own mother seems frustrated with her.  Kumiko's major aspirations center around a popular Cohen's brother film, Fargo, with Kumiko believing the film's suitcase of stolen cash is indeed still buried in the frozen landscape of North Dakota.  Leaving Tokyo, Kumiko flies to Minneapolis, intent on travleing to Fargo, North Dakota and tracking down the stolen money for herself.  The Zellner Brothers' Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter is quietly devastating film about a young woman that clearly needs some type of help.  The Zellner Brothers keep it compeltely ambigious to what exaclty is wrong with Kumiko to make her so detached, but the film does subltlely show a woman that is incredibly lonely and deeply confused about the difference between reality and fantasy.  Kumiko is a charater that is consistently pushed to do things she doesn't want to, unwilling to conform to the social expectations of societal and maternal forces.  Kumiko maintains the Zellner's dry sense of humor, with their strong abiility to capture the comedy and absurdity of everyday life.  The culture clash is another major aspect of Kumiko, with the Zellner brothers juxtaposing Japan and Minnesota/North Dakota, showing how both Kumiko and the folks of North Dakota simply do not understand each other on a cultural level in the slightest.  Unique, funny, and bizzare, the Zellner Brothers' Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter is a quietly tragic film that ofers a unique vision of a woman who will stop at nothing to achieve her goal. 

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