Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
Amplify | Release Date: March 18, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Film.comDavid EhrlichDec 19, 2014
The genius of Kikuchi’s performance is that – by the end – her slow descent into mania humanizes Kumiko precisely when it would have been so easy to reduce her into caricature. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnJan 26, 2014
Striking a complex tone of tragedy and uplift at the same time, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter both celebrates the escapist power of personal fantasies and bears witness to their dangerous extremes. It's the rare case of a story that's inspirational and devastating at once. Read full review
90
SalonAndrew O'HehirMar 26, 2015
A memorable, haunting and highly original American movie. Read full review
90
VarietyScott FoundasJan 26, 2014
At every turn, we can sense what’s going on behind Kumiko’s doleful, downcast eyes; Kikuchi pulls us deeply into her world. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenMar 25, 2015
It’s an enchanting work, heartbreaking yet wryly amusing. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaApr 3, 2015
If Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter takes its time, it's time worth taking. The cinematography is lovely: great swirls of midnight snow, frosted trees in glinting sun, the bustling modernity of Tokyo, a big library, subway stations exquisite in their orderliness. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMar 12, 2015
Is Kumiko simply naive, or is she mentally ill? The film’s perfect ending doesn’t try to solve that riddle, but it will make you feel as if you’ve just seen something hypnotically original. Read full review
83
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJan 26, 2014
Kumiko The Treasure Hunter is a striking film, a bizarre joy and a beautiful delight. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzApr 4, 2015
It's Kikuchi who carries the film. She gives Kumko a sense of dignity and strength in the face of absurdity, and does so with few words. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMar 19, 2015
Though it might not sound it, watching Kumiko brood is mesmerizing. Kikuchi uses her mournful eyes to take us to dark places, though she's equally adept at surprise and confusion, even joy when it comes along. Read full review
80
CineVueChristine JunFeb 18, 2015
Treading the fine line between truth and fiction, Kumiko is more than just a homage to the Cohen brothers. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoApr 2, 2015
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. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesPatrick Z. McGavinMar 27, 2015
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. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 26, 2015
A slow-burner — deadpan and mysterious, funny and sad — about a young Japanese woman obsessed with a pot of gold no one else knows is there. The fact that it doesn’t really exist has no bearing on the matter. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittMar 19, 2015
Kikuchi brought humanity to the robots-vs.-monsters action of Pacific Rim in a small supporting role, and she ups that much more with the meek title character of Kumiko, directed by David Zellner from a screenplay co-written with brother Nathan. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 17, 2015
The serene and forlorn snowscapes echo the Coen Brothers’ greatest movie, and the story evolves from quest to odyssey as Kumiko clings to her delusion and we start to wonder if maybe this loon isn’t onto something, that maybe the Coens WERE trying to tell us something. And only Kumiko and the Zellners figured that out. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoMar 13, 2015
It settles firmly into the perspective of a lost soul who finds solace in the swaddling security of fantasy. Read full review
70
SlateDan KoisMar 20, 2015
I can’t say that this austere, beautiful movie satisfied my impatient desire for answers. (It seems, in fact, to be a rebuttal to that desire.) But I’ll be thinking about Kumiko’s journey for a long time. Read full review
70
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerMar 17, 2015
A delicate, haunting study of a woman who has in several senses lost her way. Read full review
70
The DissolveScott TobiasMar 17, 2015
The Zellners are tapping into the allure of movies, that fundamental desire we have to escape our humdrum lives and give ourselves over to the more exciting ones playing out onscreen. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJan 26, 2014
Kikuchi manages to make Kumiko interesting company no matter how far the character recedes into herself, using subtly expressive body language that would have been at home in silent movies to create a very strange self-imposed social outcast. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloMar 17, 2015
Ultimately, despite Kikuchi’s expressively dour performance and David Zellner’s formal invention... Kumiko feels like a collection of amusing and/or depressing riffs stitched together within a context that barely matters. Read full review
63
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenJun 28, 2018
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. Read full review
60
The TelegraphMike McCahillFeb 19, 2015
Strange as it sounds – and is – Kumiko comprises a lingering display of empathy for its heroine, marching stridently on through her own peculiar headspace. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid ParkinsonFeb 17, 2015
Rinko Kikuchi's superb core performance and some striking photography stand out in the latest feature from the Zellner Brothers. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonFeb 16, 2015
The result is a fascinating – at times illuminating – tightrope act, but rarely an enjoyable one: for all its luminous outsider’s-eye photography and painstaking, perfectly pitched performances, both the film and its shivering heroine prove difficult to warm to. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMar 26, 2015
The film’s steady accumulation of little quirks... soon grow tedious. After a while they’re less delightfully oddball touches with a promise of more to come than dead weight with no payoff. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMar 23, 2015
Directed by David Zellner from a script he wrote with his brother, Nathan, the film has its tender mercies, as well-meaning Minnesotans attempt to reach out to this preoccupied Japanese woman with almost no English. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNick SchagerMar 17, 2015
A deranged pseudo-feminist fable, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter takes its tedious time getting to its unrewarding destination. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 19, 2015
Had anyone recognized the signs and done something about them, the picturesque fable would have gone up in smoke, or snow, and Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter would have become a different picture. I’d prefer that one, though, sight unseen. This one is a closed system about a closed system. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanMar 19, 2015
There’s some cross-cultural deadpan comedy, but unfortunately, the main character is too removed from reality to be truly sympathetic. The specifics of this movie are engaging, but the big picture stays buried. Read full review
20
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 17, 2015
There can hardly be a bigger waste of time than this piece of twee nonsense. Read full review
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