- Starring
- Masaki Suda, Kotone Furukawa, Daiken Okudaira
- Writer
- Kiyoshi Kurosawa
- Director
- Kiyoshi Kurosawa
- Rating
- n/a
- Running Time
- 123 minutes
- Release Date
- n/a
Overall Score
Rating Summary
This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.
It’s been quite a year for director Kiyoshi Kurosawa and his fans who were lucky enough to experience any of his three films that have been released in 2024: the short film Chime, a refined distillation of J-Horror; the yet-to-be-internationally-released thriller Serpent’s Path; and now Cloud, Kurosawa’s latest. Set against just a few locations and featuring a small cast, Cloud begins with a simple premise that takes a blunt, violent turn. Although its light genre footing might make it seem like a minor entry in his body of work, Cloud‘s fluidity and deceptive simplicity reveal themselves to be the film’s greatest strengths.
The film follows Ryosuke Yoshii (Suda), an internet reseller who specializes in scamming people. After amassing enough money to turn his side hustle into a full-time business, Yoshii relocates to the countryside with his girlfriend Akiko (Furukawa) and his newly hired assistant, Sano (Okudaira). However, his seemingly ideal life is thrown into chaos once he becomes the target of mysterious attacks, shattering his peace as multiple enemies slowly close in on him.
What follows is an unexpected turn from the director as the film shifts from digital-era comedy to a suspenseful home-invasion setup and then to a third-act shootout. Kurosawa’s approach to action, marked by the use of still, unbroken wides, imparts an active passivity similar to his protagonists and to his horror roots. The detached, straightforward filmmaking and stark, unglorified violence not only heighten the realism but also create a palpable sense of uncertainty, as no one’s life ever feels safe. In Cloud, the action isn’t a power fantasy; tension lingers, only briefly fading as the action unfolds (no one wants to make their genre exercises an hour and a half anymore).
And yet, for all the bleakness, the film finds surprising levity in its dark humour. Kurosawa fully embraces the absurdity of the situation, taking every opportunity to prod at the protagonist—a man who’s made his living dehumanizing others through a screen, with each digital transaction pushing him further from humanity until it’s forced back at him with a gun in his face. Due to such extremity, the film finds a way to have its cake and eat it too, delivering a capitalist critique that has the audience rooting for the capitalist while still landing on a stinging thematic conclusion that’s narratively satisfying.
Ultimately, Cloud deepens Kurosawa’s reputation for genre experimentation while showcasing him at his most playful. By seamlessly blending horror with dark humor and a developing action narrative, the film offers both intense thrills and a sharp critique of capitalism’s impact on human connection. Cloud stands as a testament to Kurosawa’s unique ability to balance entertainment with profound social commentary, making it a worthy, albeit lesser entry in his diverse filmography.
still courtesy of TIFF
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