Once you know it is inspired by an urban myth that sprang up to explain the 2001 death in the freezing Minnesota cold of a young Japanese woman, you can't help but be dismayed by this confection that removes poor real-life and probably broken-hearted Takako Konishi from the story of her suicide, replacing her with Kumiko, an oddbod fantasist and broad-brushstroke product of Japanese society, and replacing the genuine tragedy and elements of genuine mystery of Konishi's death with fairytale stylings, an absence of established details of Konishi's life (her ex-lover, her suicide note..) and a particularly obtuse and - I imagine offensive to some - final scene.
★★★☆☆
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