Something about the Minnesota accent must get lost when translated into Japanese, at least judging from one unhappy office worker’s strange obsession. She is convinced the briefcase full of cash buried in final scenes of the Coen Brothers’ “Fargo” is really out there, waiting to be discovered. Her strange delusion will eventually take her to the fateful North Dakota border in the Zellner Brothers’ “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter.”
It is not clear whether Kumiko’s mania has crowded out other aspects of her life or whether it has grown to fill the pre-existing void in her gloomy existence. Regardless, her work as an “office lady” (fetching coffee and dry cleaning for her boss) remains profoundly unfulfilling. That she is conspicuously older than her idiotic colleagues is a fact not lost on her, either. Her only solace comes from her pet rabbit Bunzo and watching a well-worn VHS copy of “Fargo,” constantly scribbling notes that only make sense to her.
When Kumiko finally reaches her breaking point at work, she absconds with the corporate card and books a flight to Minneapolis. This is not a well-planned trip. Kumiko carefully collects all her Fargo material, but she neglects to consider adequate winter gear.
