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poster of Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
Rating: 6.6/10 by 268 users

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014)

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.

Directing:
  • David Zellner
  • Amber Goerish
  • Yûichi Tazawa
  • Takashi Sekiya
  • Matt Center
  • Tomas Deckaj
  • Kazuko Shingyoku
Writing:
  • David Zellner
  • Nathan Zellner
Stars:
Release Date: Thu, Nov 13, 2014

Rating: 6.6/10 by 268 users

Alternative Title:
Kumiko, a Caçadora de Tesouros - PT
Kumiko, a Caçadora de Tesouros - BR
Кумико - охотница за сокровищами - RU
쿠미코, 더 트레져 헌터 - KR

Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
日本語
Runtime: 01 hour 44 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $739,623

Plot Keyword: japan, language barrier, treasure hunt, north dakota, rabbit

Ichi Kyokaku
Library Security Guard
Mayuko Kawakita
Ms. Kanazaki
Asami Tano
Office lady
Ako Yoshida
Office lady
Anna Wakamori
Office lady
Risa Hotta
Office lady
Hitomi Sawano
Office lady
Maki Issô
Office lady
Ariei Umefune
Office lady
Takao Kinoshita
Dry Cleaning Clerk
Yumiko Hioki
Kumiko's Mother
Tetsuya Hayakawa
Dancing couple
Mihoka Tomoda
Dancing couple
Yusei Fujii
Mayo (Michi's Child)
Natsuki Kanno
Department store clerk
Earl Milton
Bus driver
Madde Gibba
Gift shop clerk
Ravi Jasthi
Motel clerk
Lucy Luu
Chinese restaurant owner
Kirsten Gregerson
Airport Passenger (uncredited)
Joel Thingvall
Airline Passenger (uncredited)

Reno

> An innocent girl's desperate adventure. 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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