Cloud
Written and Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Starring Masaki Suda, Kotone Furukawa, Daiken Okudaira, Amane Okayama
Runtime: 2 hours, 3 minutes
Watched at Philadelphia Film Festival, release forthcoming

by Jonathan Jansen, Staff Writer

Cold and poised, Ryosuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda) inspects belongings from a couple who are trying to sell some items before the go to the dump. After finding items deemed valuable enough to sell, Yoshii strong-arms the couple to purchase the items at a less than desirable price. Photographed and placed for sale online, Yoshii waits patiently for the items to sell. One by one they all do. As this is happening the expression on Yoshii’s face does not change. An expression that’s blank and passionless, even as his investments start to gain him large profits.

It’s an expression that doesn’t change often in Cloud. Kiyoshi Kurosawa paints the world, especially from Yoshii’s point of view, as humdrum. He works a monotonous job at a factory and lives an ordinary life as an ordinary person. Yoshii seems stuck in this state. His manager, Takimoto (YoshiYoshi Arakawa), offers him a promotion at the dry-cleaning firm he works at, but declines. His girlfriend talks of a better life in a bigger house with a family, but Yoshii seems less interested in the idea. Reselling is the only thing he seems to have any interest in. Kurosawa establishes the culture of reselling as a passionless and cold way to make a living. It displays all of the underhanded tactics of the kind of dealing Yoshii is doing that creates suspense, but eventually starts moving a bit too slow and tiresome.

Eventually growing too big for his apartment, Yoshii moves his business and girlfriend Akiko (Kotone Furukawa) to a bigger, more remote space. Reselling has now become big business. There’s more items stocked to resell, higher price tags on that merchandise, and even hires Sano (Daiken Okudaira) as an assistant to help with the operation. Along the way to the top of Yoshii’s greed, his small microaggressions in making these transactions leaves behind unsatisfied and angry buyers and sellers. It’s here when the stakes begin to rise as Yoshii finds himself in a fight to survive those he angered.

The filmmaking in this section of the film can be a lot of fun even if the film's overall themes and tone remain cynical. However, the film can never quite keep building on itself and causes it to constantly lose momentum. The horror scenes are good, but not quite scary enough. Thrills don’t reach adrenaline-fueled heights. At the beginning of a home invasion scene there is an object thrown at the window of Yoshii’s house that gave me a good jump scare. The rest of the scene though doesn’t keep that same momentum. There’s a shootout with a few memorable moments and kills that can be thrilling, but it never becomes more than that. After such a long slow, start, I was excited when Kurosawa essentially hit the gas, only for the narrative to hiccup each time as it went into new gears and again becoming a bit tiresome like the first half. One piece of the equation does hold through most of the film and that would be its comedy. The film carries a satirical tone the entire time, and while it is more overt in the second half, the first portion still carries that tone and lends itself to some very funny bits.

Despite its uneven approach in conveying it, Kurosawa’s voice is very clear in Cloud. The internet has become a safe space for people to be terrible to each other. Whether that’s by ripping them off and profiting off of other people’s passions in the reselling market, neglecting relationships and work, or creating rivalries with people we don’t even know all that well. Cloud gives a satirical glimpse into what it would be like if actions online turned into real life consequences. Those consequences go to the extreme by becoming deadly. Kurosawa doesn’t ever allow the audience to interpret any gray areas either, making it very clear in the end what the internet has turned us all into.

There are entertaining moments to enjoy in Cloud and in many different forms. It’s part thriller, part horror, and part comedy all delivered in one package. While it’s a compelling package, filled with commentary and fun filmmaking, it's a package that ultimately has a few items missing. It didn’t leave me as an angry customer, just a bit unsatisfied.