If
you’ve found that even the independent film scene has gotten a little too mainstream
for you, the Little Theatre has your back. In the first edition of what will
hopefully become an annual event, The Little Underground Film Series will
present a two-day program of eclectic and under-the-radar films “celebrating
visionaries, agitators, and revolutionaries in the art of filmmaking.”
The series starts off Friday April
3, 7 p.m., with the Rochester premiere of “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter.” This
dreamy fable from filmmakers David and Nathan Zellner
(which will continue for a limited run after the festival) follows Kumiko (Rinko Kikuchi, “Babel,” “Pacific Rim”), a withdrawn young
woman who — inspired by the discovery of a VHS copy of the Coen
brothers’ “Fargo” — flees her lonely life in Tokyo to travel to Minnesota in
search of the money abandoned by Steve Buscemi’s
character at the climax of that film.
She heads off to America convinced
she will find the riches she believes to be her destiny, leaving behind her
sole companion, a pet rabbit named Bunzo (who steals
the movie during his all-too-brief screen time). Once Kumiko reaches America,
the story proceeds episodically as she encounters a number of good-intentioned
folks who try to dissuade her from continuing her mission, including a kindly
police officer (played by director David Zellner) who
attempts to solve their language barrier by taking her to a Chinese restaurant
in the hopes that the owner might be able to translate, oblivious to the fact
that there’s little overlap between the languages.
“Kumiko” opens with a warped title
card stating that what follows is “based on a true story,” and though that text
is lifted directly from the opening to “Fargo,” the film actually is inspired
by another “true” story — the urban legend about a real-life Japanese woman
named TakakoKonishi. The
moment functions as a sly tipoff to the film’s amorphous relationship with fact
and fiction.
Kikuchi is wonderful as Kumiko;
despite having only sparse dialogue and portraying a character focused almost
completely inward, she earns our sympathy. We accept that despite seemingly
understanding that “Fargo” is just a movie, Kumiko needs to believe the
possibility that it might also be true. Through Kikuchi’s remarkable
performance, the film becomes a touching character study of a young woman
searching for some sort of understanding from a world she’s grown increasingly
disconnected from. Contemplative and often quite funny, “Kumiko, the Treasure
Hunter” is a film that defies categorization as it presents a mythical tale
about the ways that the images flickering across our movie screens take hold in
our imaginations, blinding us with the promise of escaping into the beautiful
lies reflected back at us.
Following “Kumiko” will be a
screening of the 1977 Japanese horror cult-classic “House (Hausu),”
featuring live accompaniment from the Andrew Alden Ensemble. If you aren’t
already a fan of director Nobuhiko Ôbayashi’s gonzo
haunted house flick, read nothing more about it. Just know that it is non-stop
bananas and best experienced with an enthusiastic crowd.
On Saturday, the series continues
with a free program of eight short films curated by the Short Circuit film
collective. Spanning a variety of mediums and loosely focused around themes of
ritual, identity, and death — my favorite of the bunch, “Plastic,” weds a
tragic story of wounded youth to a retro, campy visual style — the program
makes for a fascinating viewing experience perfect for those with a taste for
the sublimely strange. Things conclude Saturday evening with a screening of the
documentary “Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow,” focusing on the landscape
installations of German artist Anselm Kiefer.
This article appears in Apr 1-7, 2015.
