Frustrated with her mundane life, a Tokyo office worker becomes obsessed with a fictional movie that she mistakes for a documentary. Believing it to be a treasure map indicating the location of a large case of money, she sets out her quest.
With sparse dialogue, the film hinges on an incredible performance from Rinko Kikuchi as office-girl outsider Kumiko, who can hurt your heart with just a little flick of her eye.
Unfortunately, Treasure opened too early in the year for short attention span Academy members, because Rinko Kikuchi seriously merits consideration for her second Oscar nom.
If you're in the mood for something different, you're in luck: "Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter" takes elements of the traditional quest story into completely new places.
In the title role, Kikuchi is impressive, easily handling Kumiko's comic and more somber sides and never allowing us to settle into a single or simple interpretation of the character.
The entrancing fifth feature of the Zellner brothers, Kumiko the Treasure Hunter, is like found art in the beguiling, haunting manner it combines the seemingly ridiculous and desperate with an ineffable and quiet sadness.
