Kiyoshi Kurosawa's latest film “Cloud” was the only film I was seeing at this year's MIFF that I had seen previous, but such is my love for Kurosawa's cinema, that I never miss a chance to see his work on the big screen. My opinion of “Cloud” remains the same as after my first viewing in that it is a wildly inconsistent film, basically a film of two differing halves, but when “Cloud” is firing on all cylinders, it is some of the best stuff Kurosawa has done in his entire career.
“Cloud” sees Kiyoshi Kurosawa return to the world of the internet and the darkness and dangers that emanate from cyberspace, some twenty plus years after he scored a massive hit with the horror film “Kairo” (Pulse) back in 2001. In the time since that classic film was released, the internet has changed substantially as has people's usage of it, with a sad portion of them using the supposed anonymity of the platform to abuse and bully others, without any thought of the repercussions. “Cloud” is a very different film from “Kairo”, in that it is not a horror film, but rather a dramatic thriller, before it descends into somewhat of an action film towards the end. Still with Kurosawa at the helm of “Cloud”, you can be sure that the film is at times effectively creepy.
The world of resellers (or scalpers) is what “Cloud” is essentially about, and Kurosawa does an expert job at detailing their profession, as well as their negative standing in the world. There is a sense that resellers are just ripping off regular folk by selling them fakes or imitations of custom goods, or by buying up all stock of real collector's items to sell at a much higher rate. I am actually a blu-ray collector and scalpers have such a bad reputation, more so now because of the limited edition model the hobby has began to favour recently. These people buy large numbers of these limited edition discs (thus making them scarce more quickly), only to sell them at an inflated price soon after. After Yoshii hits it big selling a medical item for half it's recommended price, but much dearer than he paid for it after low-balling the product's owner, Yoshii decides to make a living being a reseller full time. He quits his day job (offending his manager in the process), and leaves his tiny Tokyo apartment with his girlfriend Akiko, for a large house and open spaces of the country. Kurosawa does an excellent job at showcasing Yoshii scouring the web for hours, searching for bargains he can buy and then sell at an increased price straight after. We watch him carefully photograph each item, from every angle, before putting it on the internet for sale, as he sits back and waits for the products to sell. Even though at times he is ripping people off, he doesn't see what he is doing as anything necessarily bad, but those being taken advantage of by Yoshii obviously feel differently. One thing that I loved that Kurosawa does is show that reselling is not easy money, and just because you hit it big once, does not mean you can repeat that luck with everything you try to sell. It is certainly not guaranteed money, and needs an outlay of your own cash initially to buy the stock you want to sell at a mark-up. It is true that Yoshii has a huge win at the start of the film, but since then it hasn't been as smooth sailing, although Kurosawa does not explicitly state this, but through a quick glance at his bank book, it exposes his money supply is dwindling, not increasing. Kurosawa also fills Yoshii with a nervous energy whenever he lists something new on the internet, knowing how much it actually means to his future finances.
The opening half (or two thirds, really) is Kiyoshi Kurosawa at the peak of his powers. It is absolutely sensational, as he sets up the dodgy world of resellers and the benefits and negatives that come with it. As I mentioned earlier, Kurosawa has a gift at making the normal seem very creepy, and it isn't long until he has his audience biting their nails from the suspense, as it starts to feel that everything is not as it seems, particularly the new assistant Yoshii has hired to help him. There is a simply outstanding moment that takes place on a bus that illustrates just how great Kiyoshi Kurosawa is at creating dread out of nothing, making the mundane feel threatening. On the bus, Yoshii is talking to Akiko, showing her on a map where their new house is actually situated. During the conversation, Kurosawa shifts the angle of his camera ever so slightly, exposing that someone is standing directly behind the seated couple. The couple continue with their conversation, when suddenly Yoshii notices the person behind him. At the exact same moment, Kurosawa drains all the sound out, so it plays in complete silence, as the guy gets off the bus. It is incredibly unnerving, but we don't know if anything really happens. Was the guy eavesdropping and trying to find out Yoshii's new address or was it just a coincidence and he is just standing behind the couple, minding his own business? We never know the truth but it certainly gets you thinking that “maybe” something fishy was taking place. Another terrifying moment in “Cloud”, this time much less ambiguous, is soon after Yoshii and Akiko move into their new house, a part of a car engine is violently thrown through one of their windows in an attempt to intimidate them. Again Kurosawa uses sound brilliantly to achieve maximum impact, as he quietens the scene once more before a loud smash comes from nowhere. From there he goes into full suspense mode, as he has Yoshii wander around this house and surroundings looking for the culprit, and it is very tense. The other chilling moment has to do with timing and perfect execution as, later in the film, Yoshii hears a noise outside, and then notices that his side door is actually wide open, so rushes to attempt to close it, only to find the lock is broken and the door wont stay closed. Panicked, he finds some wire to tie around the handle to close the door, and as he is doing it, he drops the pliers he is using and bends to pick them up. As he rises, there is suddenly the figure of a masked man in the frosted window of the door who wasn't there a second prior. It is so well done, it is incredibly chilling, and it sets in motion the start of the less successful second half of “Cloud”.
Watching “Cloud” on the big screen, I was struck by just how effective Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films are, especially his suspense dynamics. I was equally impressed by his expert use of light and shadow, as well as colour. Early on in the film, “Cloud” sports and overly clean and sanitised look during the scenes that take place in Tokyo. Once the action moves to the country, “Cloud” sports very autumnal colours with browns, yellows and oranges regularly seen. I particularly loved the orange costume Kurosawa dressed actress Kotone Furukawa (playing Akiko) in for the film's finale. Kiyoshi Kurosawa actually made three films in 2024, each having a different cinematographer with the duties of “Cloud” falling to Yasuyuki Sasaki. As I said, his use of light and shadow is exquisite and I particularly loved when characters would come out of the darkness and only a sliver of light would illuminate just a part of their face. Sasaki is obviously a cinematographer who is not afraid of the dark, as large parts of the film (especially towards the end) play in almost complete darkness. For a thriller, this type of lighting was very effective.
An interesting wrinkle in the story of “Cloud” is when Yoshii comes across a doxxing page on the internet for his username “Ratel”, with strangers who felt duped by the reseller intent on exposing his true identity, publish his address and maybe even physically hurt him as revenge. Again, these strangers are given Dutch courage by their anonymity and hiding behind fake names (something Yoshii himself does when reselling), although when a group of these keyboard warriors are angry enough to hunt down Yoshii, this is when “Cloud” starts to become less and less interesting as it goes along, before it ends in a series of dull gun battles. Up until this lynch mob kidnaps Yoshii, I consider “Cloud” to be Grade A Kurosawa, but after that it drops in quality quickly as character motivations and personalities seem to change completely from what we have known earlier in the film, and probably most inexplicably, a secret society of spies (!) are introduced with one important character in the film turning out to be a member, which is stupidity in its purest form. The very final scene set in a car is also utterly bizarre.
What I did like in the second half was, of course, the craft of film making itself and Kurosawa's continued great use of sound, especially the extreme volume of all the gunshots that echo throughout the warehouse. I also really liked the conclusion of the storyline between Yoshii and his girlfriend Akiko, but really the second half of “Cloud” pales in quality compared to the first. So what about the title, “Cloud”, what does that actually mean or signify? That is a good question and very vague in the film itself. At one point there is a throwaway line from one member of the mob who says “People like us keep billowing up around Yoshii, like clouds in the sky”, and this is the only mention of a cloud in the entire film. Personally, I interpret the meaning of the title to be about the potential success and wealth you may get from reselling, in that you may make big money every now and then, but eventually that money will disappear, like a cloud dissipates in the sky....but maybe I'm reaching. The only other thing I think it could mean is in regards to cloud technology where all our details and information are kept in cyberspace, but really it is never fully explained.
Overall, I absolutely loved the first two-thirds of “Cloud” so much and feel it is Kiyoshi Kurosawa working at the top of his game, that I am willing to look past its deficiencies that occur in the final third of the film. It is intriguing, creepy and tense, however sadly it descends into a series of gun fights which then makes the film a whole lot less interesting, as the uniqueness of the story is gone. The film making craft on display throughout the whole film though is exceptional, particularly Kurosawa's use of light, shadow and sound. When is “Cloud” is firing, it is a brilliant watch, and I think the good in it certainly outweighs the bad, which is why I recommend “Cloud”, and like it so much.
3.5 Stars.
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