Review of Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014) by Berni E — 12 Jul 2015

Being a fan of movies that defy convention and create their own unique world in which to entertain us, I had heard a lot of good things about this movie and was eager to see it. Seeing the names Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor in the opening credits certainly heightened my optimism.

But by the time it ground to a halt an hour and 40 minutes later, I exhaled in a manner that said 'Well, I kinda wish I hadn't bothered now.' There were aspects of the film I thought were interesting, such as its clever use of imagery to reinforce its themes, primarily confinement and monotony.

It also photographs the snow-torn regions of North America in such a way that they come across not as beautiful and tranquil, but as hostile and lifeless. For me, the main issues with the film were its pacing and its protagonist.

The story takes an inordinate amount of time to start really playing out, and rather than feeling like a voyage of fulfilment and self-discovery, it's structured more like a brooding think piece, but with nothing deep or meaningful to contemplate it just comes across as hollow and ponderous.

Kumiko, out intrepid hero, is among the dullest leads in any motion picture I've ever seen. She is every 'Shy girl breaking out of a sheltered, uneventful life' that you've ever seen onscreen, and as the film progresses she gets no more interesting.

At one point she's picked up by a kindly old lady who, despite having less than 10 minutes of screen, gets more characters development than Kumiko gets in an entire 95. I don't want to bash Rinko Kikuchi, who does have some tender moments, but she's given little to do here other than look bored.

Who knows, maybe at some point in her life she was also witness to an admittedly promising premise which rapidly descended into mind-numbing tedium.