Interview: Director David Zellner Talks 'Kumiko The Treasure Hunter,' Urban Legends & Lure Of The Quest Movie

A small, offbeat gem of a film that has finally made it to U.S. theaters, David and Nathan Zellner’s "Kumiko the Treasure Hunter" (which incidentally features the all-time Lettuce D’Or winner for Best Performance by a Rabbit), was one of the quieter success stories of the 2014 festival circuit. The strange, sad, bittersweet story of a lonely Japanese woman, played with perfect self-contained command by Rinko Kikuchi, who finds a VHS tape of the Coen Brothers’ "Fargo," and, conflating reality and fiction, journeys all the way to Minnesota, alone in the dead of winter, to try to find the money that Steve Buscemi’s character buries in the snow, 'Kumiko,' despite being inspired by both an internet urban legend and one of the greatest American films ever made, is entirely its own, unusual thing. We loved it (our review is here), and so at the last Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, we were happy for the opportunity to talk with its director, David Zellner, who...