Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter

Carl Showalter, the character played by Steve Buscemi, buries a suitcase full of money in the snow. This scene from Fargo, combined with information that the film by the Coen brothers is based on a true story gives rise to Kumiko’s obsession. Approaching 30, she is an introverted dreamer living in Tokyo who is not fulfilling the expectations of her mother or of society. She is still not married, and she does not even have a boyfriend. At work, she is in a position usually reserved for much younger girls. When her boss lets her know that her time at the company is coming to an end, she gives in to an impulse, steals her boss’s credit card, and travels to the United States in order to dig up the fortune that Carl left behind. Somewhere between fiction and reality, between mental illness and unabashed imagination, the film’s heroine takes the opportunity that cinema offers her to escape from her gray everyday reality. Roaming the world but shying away from people, she falls deeper and deeper into her own loneliness. Her states of mind are illustrated perfectly by the music of the band The Octopus Project, who won an award at Sundance.  

Adam Horowski