Drama

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter

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.

Release Date : 2014-11-13

Language :EnglishJapanese

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Ad Hominem EnterprisesLila 9th Productions

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Kumiko

Original Name : 菊地凛子

Gender : Female

Character Name : Sakagami

Original Name : 勝部演之

Gender : Male

Character Name : Michi

Original Name : 東加奈子

Gender : Female

Character Name : Library Security Guard

Original Name : Ichi Kyokaku

Gender : Male

Character Name : Chieko

Original Name : 大西礼芳

Gender : Female

Character Name : Ms. Kanazaki

Original Name : 河北麻友子

Gender : Female

Character Name : Office lady

Original Name : 田野アサミ

Gender : Female

Character Name : Office lady

Original Name : Ako Yoshida

Gender : Female

Character Name : Office lady

Original Name : Anna Wakamori

Gender : Male

Character Name : Office lady

Original Name : Risa Hotta

Gender : Male

Character Name : Office lady

Original Name : Hitomi Sawano

Gender : Male

Character Name : Office lady

Original Name : Maki Issô

Gender : Female

Character Name : Office lady

Original Name : 梅舟惟永

Gender : Female

Character Name : Dry Cleaning Clerk

Original Name : Takao Kinoshita

Gender : Male

Character Name : Older Woman

Original Name : Shirley Venard

Gender : Male

Character Name : Policeman

Original Name : David Zellner

Gender : Male

Character Name : Robert

Original Name : Nathan Zellner

Gender : Male

Character Name : Kumiko's Mother

Original Name : Yumiko Hioki

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dancing couple

Original Name : Tetsuya Hayakawa

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dancing couple

Original Name : Mihoka Tomoda

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mayo (Michi's Child)

Original Name : Yusei Fujii

Gender : Male

Character Name : Department store clerk

Original Name : Natsuki Kanno

Gender : Male

Character Name : Brad

Original Name : Brad Prather

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bus driver

Original Name : Earl Milton

Gender : Male

Character Name : Gift shop clerk

Original Name : Madde Gibba

Gender : Male

Character Name : Motel clerk

Original Name : Ravi Jasthi

Gender : Male

Character Name : Chinese restaurant owner

Original Name : Lucy Luu

Gender : Male

Character Name : Airport Passenger (uncredited)

Original Name : Kirsten Gregerson

Gender : Female

Character Name : Airline Passenger (uncredited)

Original Name : Joel Thingvall

Gender : Male

Reviews

Reno

@Rangan

2024-05-16

> 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