Cloud - Nuvem de Vingança

Very well made thriller with a mounting sense of dread and tight formal control we have come to expect from Kyoshi Kurosawas previous movies.

While very effective, this doesn't quite reach the heights of Cure. Still, there's much to enjoy here, a dry sense of humor, tension and scares, great performances and some very well staged action sequences. They have a spatial clarity and tight editing which rivals some of the best directors of the genre, and which you too rarely see in modern cinema which too often rely on confusing and excessive editing. While the ending might be divisive for some, it manages to be simultaneously conventional and experimental, leaving certain parts open to interpretation. Highly recommended.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Cloud" is a 2024 Japanese psychological thriller that premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. The film follows a seemingly ordinary man named Yoshii, who juggles a mundane job, a loving girlfriend, and a side hustle as an online reseller. However, his life takes a dark turn when he becomes entangled in a dangerous online conspiracy.

The film's strengths lie in its atmospheric tension and Kurosawa's signature style. The early scenes effectively establish a sense of unease, with long takes and a focus on mundane details creating a claustrophobic atmosphere. Kurosawa masterfully uses silence and subtle sound design to heighten the suspense, making the audience feel increasingly on edge.

The film's exploration of the dark side of the internet is also a compelling aspect. The online world depicted in "Cloud" is a shadowy realm of anonymity and deceit, where individuals can easily slip into dangerous and morally questionable activities. The film's critique of the internet's potential for manipulation and exploitation resonates with contemporary anxieties.

However, "Cloud" also has its shortcomings. The film's pacing is uneven, with some scenes feeling overly drawn-out while others feel rushed. Additionally, the film's abrupt shift from psychological thriller to action-oriented revenge story in the second half may feel jarring for some viewers.

Despite these flaws, "Cloud" is a visually striking and thought-provoking film that showcases Kurosawa's distinctive style. The film's exploration of the dark side of the internet and its masterful use of atmosphere make it a worthwhile watch for fans of psychological thrillers and arthouse cinema.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's latest thriller is an interesting, playful exercise in suspense slightly marred by some questionable directing choices.

The film's more distinct first half introduces us to Ryosuke, a shady reseller who buys goods on the cheap only to multiply their prices on his online selling platform. He lives modestly, sharing his flat with his girlfriend and working in a factory, but dreams of turning the reselling side business into his main thing. Soon he starts receiving mysterious threats, so he's forced to relocate to a different location, but that won't be the end to his woes...

The film's carefully maintained sense of danger in its first hour is the best thing about it. It achieves a sense of dread that will be familiar to Kurosawa's fans, turning the mundane into threatening, and punctuating everyday lives with creepy incidents. The camerawork and sound design are sublime, just like they were in Kurosawa's classics. Later, the film segues into an altogether different thriller mode, but one that, while entertaining, isn't exactly too compelling or surprising. It basically devolves into a lesser film that throws plausibility out the window, although not enough that you would check out entirely.

I personally felt similarly about Creepy, the director's other film that initially showed more promise than it ultimately delivered. However, both films also offer their share of genre pleasures and aren't easily dismissed. There are ideas here that work well and are integrated into the plot with ease. Even so, neither this one nor Creepy are among Kurosawa's best works.

I would recommend this one to the director's many fans, although I'd suggest that they lower their expectations a bit.

This starts off a bit like one of those shows that sells the contents of a locker to the highest bidder and let's the winner make what they can from the contents. "Yoshii" (Masaki Suda) has a bit of an unfulfilling job and lives with his girlfriend "Akiko" (Kotone Furukawa) in a tiny flat where he buys stuff cheap then marks them up and flogs them online. There's no quality control involved here, he just creatively peddles any old stuff claiming it is what it probably isn't, relying on anonymity to ensure that he gets away with it. Convinced they can make it big with their very own auction site, he jacks in the work and sets up a lucrative business. With the police becoming suspicious, things start to take a turn for the more menacing and then some of his disgruntled buyers manage to track him down and set about employing some vigilante tactics to, quite literally, exact their vengeful pound of flesh. With only his loyal and adaptable assistant "Miyake" (Omane Okayama) maybe in his corner, things don't look so hot for our intrepid entrepreneur as his electronic therapy kits make a more malevolent re-appearance in quite a shocking fashion. For a while this is quite a tensely directed drama that illustrates just how unregulated the internet is when it comes to describing and selling things. Is that an indictment of a capitalist society exploiting the unaware or one of a consumer society who expect to pay as little as possible for quality? Maybe both? Unscrupulousness abounds on both sides. However, once we start to enter the revenge phase of the drama, it fades away into a far-fetched version of a video game where the scenarios become increasingly less plausible, interesting and more repetitive. It raises lots of questions about our behaviour towards and dependency on the web, but it doesn't really know where to go once it has asked them and perhaps it's that video game analogy that epitomises the ultimate solution auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa selects as he presents us with a cinematic version of sticking your head in a sand of virtual reality. The acting is neither here nor there and though it's starts quite innovatively it just fizzes out - as does the whole thing. Pity, it had potential.

Cloud tells the story of Ryosuke Yoshii, an ordinary online reseller who becomes entangled in a life-threatening struggle after a series of cyber incidents escalate to the point of putting his life in danger. What starts as minor threats soon becomes far more serious, and Yoshii is completely unprepared for this kind of disruption.

The movie is rather slow-paced and has a unique narrative that I was looking forward to exploring. The characters are distinct and engaging, and the film builds a tense atmosphere, with director Kurosawa's signature style evident throughout. His name is well known in the genre, and he has delivered many enjoyable and popular films in the past. The use of long takes and silent moments in the first half further enhances the tension.

However, once the movie really gets going, it starts to fall apart. While the story remains grounded and avoids exaggeration, it also leans toward a satirical edge. That said, this grounded approach should have been matched with more plausibility and realism. Several scenes felt unrealistic due to poor character decisions or outright stupidity, which seriously harmed the immersion.

Our main character ends up in dangerous situations because of poor choices, gets out of them only because the antagonists make even worse decisions, and then ends up right back in trouble again due to yet another mistake. This became frustrating to watch and made it difficult to root for Yoshii.

Masaki Suda gave a solid performance as the lead, and the supporting cast was strong as well. Unfortunately, some of Kurosawa's decisions in the second half significantly weakened the film. It's a decent thriller with an especially strong first half, but it gradually loses its sense of tone and coherence as it progresses.

That said, one could argue the movie is unpredictable. Kurosawa certainly takes unexpected paths with his characters and their behavior. Still, the film suffers from pacing issues and an uneven tone, shifting from an atmospheric thriller to action-packed shootouts that were poorly executed.

By the time the second half derails, the movie loses its impact and doesn't leave much of a lasting impression, which is unfortunate given the unique plot and characters. It's still a decent watch, and Kurosawa fans will find elements to enjoy here, but overall, it's far from his best work. Also, I'm not sure why this is tagged as "horror" on IMDb, because that label is definitely misleading. [5.2/10]