KUMIKO, THE TREASURE HUNTER Re-Release Trailer: The Zellner Bros’ Breakout Hit Returns to Theaters For Its 10th Anniversary

Ten years ago, David and Nathan Zellner premiered a film at Sundance about the urban legend of a Japanese woman who died trying to find the fictional Fargo suitcase full of cash. That film became their breakout hit Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter.

Ahead of the release of the brothers’ new film Sasquatch Sunset, Bleecker Street has just announced that they will be re-releasing Kumiko in theaters this March in honor of its 10th anniversary. It stars Oscar-nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) as a jaded, solitary Tokyo-based office worker who travels to Minneapolis, Minnesota after being convinced that a satchel of money buried and lost in the Coen Brothers’ film, Fargo, is in fact, real. The blurring of reality and fiction helped turn Kumiko into the cult classic it is today. Since the film’s original release, it has been difficult to find on streaming or even DVD. So the re-release will likely be a godsend for many cinephiles and indie enthusiasts.

In HtN’s review from 2015, Donna K. wrote “Once upon a time…there were a set of filmmaking brothers whose magical films enveloped you in a dreamscape of skewed reality where you laughed and cried and wanted to be a better person. Obviously, I am talking about the Zellner Brothers. The contemporary fables they create are entirely their own. Their twisted realities unfold with a wide, sweet smile in the face of cynicism. Their latest feature Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter is a culmination of the jagged hope the Zellner Brothers continue to believe in… The thing that invites us into Kumiko’s world, and makes the film a bit of a masterpiece, is the way her tale visually manifests itself… The Zellner Brothers are two large-hearted humanists urging us to be better humans across all possible worlds no matter who the protagonist of each world happens to be.”

Here’s the official synopsis:

A Tokyo office worker (Rinko Kikuchi) finds a battered VHS tape of a fictional film and becomes convinced the movie’s lost satchel of money is real. Believing she solved the mystery of the buried fortune, she abandons everything and embarks on a quest to frozen Minnesota in search of the mythical treasure, discovering the line between reality and fantasy maybe be even harder to locate.

Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter will return to theaters March 22 before heading to digital April 2. Check out the new trailer below.

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