“Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter” opens Friday, March 20, at the Nuart Theatre, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd. (just west of the 405 Freeway) in West Los Angeles.
Populated by eccentrics, this darkly comedic odyssey stars Academy Award nominee Rinko Kikuchi (“Babel,” “Pacific Rim”) as Kumiko, a frustrated “office lady” whose imagination transcends the confines of her mundane life. Kumiko becomes obsessed with a mysterious, battered VHS tape of “Fargo,” fixating on a scene where a suitcase of stolen cash is buried in the desolate, frozen landscape of North Dakota.
She embroiders a map to the treasure and, believing it to be real, she leaves behind Tokyo and her beloved rabbit Bunzo to recover it — and finds herself on a dangerous adventure unlike anything she’s seen in the movies.
With “Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter,” indie mavericks the Zellner Brothers spin a strangely touching underdog fable that will leave audiences rooting for the impossible. Elevated to sonic heights by a Sundance award-winning score from electro-indie outfit The Octopus Project.
Special appearances at the Nuart:
Friday, March 20, after the 7:30 p.m. show: Q&A with filmmaker David Zellner, moderated by Jay Duplass
Saturday, March 21, after the 2:30 p.m. show: Q&A with David Zellner and cinematographer Sean Porter, moderated by The Daily Beast’s Jen Yamato
Saturday, March 21, after the 7:30 p.m. show: Q&A with filmmakers David Zellner and Nathan Zellner, moderated by Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Sunday, March 22, after the 2:30 p.m. show: Q&A with David Zellner and Nathan Zellner, moderated by Bobcat Goldthwait
For showtimes and tickets, visit http://www.landmarktheatres.com/los-angeles/nuart-theatre.
The film will also be shown at the following California theaters:
Friday, March 27
• Edwards University Town Center 6, 4245 Campus Dr., Irvine
www.regmovies.com/Theatres/Theatre-Folder/Edwards-University-Town-Center-6-635
• Art Theatre of Long Beach, 2025 E. 4th St., Long Beach
• Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St., San Luis Obispo
Wednesday, April 1
• Plaza de Oro, 371 S. Hitchcock Way, Santa Barbara
www.metrotheatres.com/location/2278/Plaza-de-Oro
Friday, April 3
• Landmark Shattuck Cinemas, 2230 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley
www.landmarktheatres.com/san-francisco-east-bay
• Pageant Theatre, 351 E. 6th St., Chico
• Landmark Opera Plaza Cinema, 601 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
www.landmarktheatres.com/san-francisco/opera-plaza-cinema
• Camera 3, 288 S. 2nd St., San Jose
www.streamingmoviesright.com/news/camera-3-san-jose
• Nickelodeon Theatre, 210 Lincoln St., Santa Cruz
• Rialto Cinemas, 6868 McKinley St., Sebastopol
www.rialtocinemas.com/index.php?location=sebastopol
Friday, April 10
• Tower Theatre, 815 E. Olive Ave., Fresno
• New Parkway Theater, 474 24th St., Oakland
• Sonoma Film Institute, 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park
Friday, April 17
• Ken Cinema, 4061 Adams Ave., San Diego
www.landmarktheatres.com/san-diego/ken-cinema
About Rinko Kikuchi
Japanese-born Kikuchi has shown range and depth with every role she plays. She was most recently seen in the sci-fi thriller “Pacific Rim.” Since landing her first professional role in the Japanese film “Ikitai” in 1999, she has displayed her talent as an actress, starring in critically acclaimed Japanese films such as “Hole in the Sky” (2001) and “The Taste of Tea” (2004).
Kikuchi was catapulted onto the international feature film scene with her Academy Award-nominated role for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Babel” (2006). Playing the role of young deaf high-schooler Chieko with fervent energy and commitment, she achieved an outstanding reputation around the world for her dramatic performance.
Kikuchi followed up her success with a number of highly acclaimed international films such as Rian Johnson’s “The Brothers Bloom” (2008), with Adrien Brody and Rachel Weisz; Isabel Coixet’s “Map of the Sounds of Tokyo” (2009), with Serge Lopez; Mikael Håfström’s “Shanghai” (2010), with John Cusack and Ken Watanabe; and Anh Hung Tran’s “Norwegian Wood” (2010), a highly anticipated adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s international bestselling novel of the same name.
She hails from Hadano, Kanagawa Prefecture and is a skilled sword fighter as well as an accomplished motorcyclist and horseback rider. In 2007, she was named one of Variety’s “10 Actors to Watch.”
For more information on the film, visit http://kumikothetreasurehunter.com/.