A weird one. Written by brothers David and Nathan Zellner and directed by David, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter follows the 29-year-old Tokyo office worker of the title (Rinko Kikuchi), a morose loner who believes that a VHS copy of Fargo contains clues to an actual buried briefcase of cash. So off she goes to the States to find it. Given Kikuchi’s purposefully distanced performance, Zellner’s tendency to give scenes four lungs full of breathing space, and the often jarring musical choices, it’s almost as if the movie is daring you not to like it. The key, I think, is to recognize the bone-dry sense of humor percolating underneath (especially in what Kikuchi’s doing). There is also a consistently clever use of offscreen space, as well as an eye for the fantastic that occasionally transforms this sad story of a deluded individual into something vaguely magical. When Kumiko wanders down a wintry Minnesota highway wearing a stolen motel blanket as a coat, she looks at once like a homeless wayfarer and the colorful conquistador she imagines herself to be.
