WHO’S IN IT?
Rinko Kikuchi (Pacific Rim), Nobuyuki Katsube (Violent Cop), Shirley Venard (The Cure), David Zellner (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints), Nathan Zellner (Dignity), Kanako Higashi (Kichijôji no Asahina-kun), Ayaka Ohnishi (film debut), Mayuko Kawakita (Fashion Story: Model), Yumiko Hioki (Slacker 2011), Brad Prather (film debut)
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
David Zellner (Kid-Thing), director, writer; Nathan Zellner (Plastic Utopia), writer, producer; Andrew Banks (Syrup), Jim Burke (The Descendants), Cameron Lamb (Careless) and Chris Ohlson (Melvin), producers; The Octopus Project (Kid-Thing), composer; Sean Porter (Eden), cinematographer; Melba Jodorowsky (Kid-Thing), editor
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Kumiko (Kikuchi) is a lonely woman living in complete solitude in Tokyo, working a dreadful job under an insubordinate boss, intimidated by her colleagues, friends and her overbearing mother. Her only solace comes in an old VHS copy of a film where a character buries a satchel of money underneath the snow in the American Midwest. Convinced that the satchel is all too real, she ventures across the Pacific and to the point where it was apparently buried, hoping to uncover a potential fortune…
IN ONE SENTENCE, WHY SHOULD YOU BE EXCITED?
With a decidedly-barmy premise inspired by an open-ended plot point in the Coen Brothers’ Fargo, this American/Japanese drama hits all the right notes that a good indie film should with astonishing direction and a captivating lead performance by international star Rinko Kikuchi.