Cloud

Story: Ryosuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda) has a job in a factory and also works as a reseller on the side. He recently bought medical equipment from a desperate couple at a ridiculously low price, which he was able to resell at a very high profit. So, he quits his job and plans to branch out completely on his own. His girlfriend Akiko (Kotone Furukawa) can't afford her rent anymore, and she is often at Yoshii's place anyway. Therefore, the two decide to move in together. Yoshii finds a very spacious accommodation outside of Tokyo, where he can also store his goods. He even needs help and hires the young man Sano (Daiken Okudaira), who soon wants to do more than just move goods from A to B or keep the warehouse in order. He finds out that online some of the buyers of Yoshii's goods are trying to track down the seller's identity and address. He ripped them off and now they want to take revenge. Then, something flies crashing through Yoshii's window one night. He goes to the police, and they tell him that he was probably just pranked by teenagers from the village. However, the police are very interested in what it is exactly that Yoshii sells. The reseller realizes that he made a mistake and that he needs to get rid of his fake goods as soon as possible ...

Review: During the Corona lockdowns, there was little left to do, and so a lot of people turned to computer and video games. Therefore, people needed new graphics cards for their PC, and because the governments of this world, despite knowing about inevitable inflation as a result, printed and gave away money as a consolation for the freedom taken away, suddenly everyone wanted a new gaming PC or the PlayStation 5. This little digression is supposed to serve as a reminder that most of us have already made the acquaintance of so-called "scalpers". In other words, people who are at the ready during presales and buy enormous quantities of a product on the spot, so that there is nothing left for the average guy. The scalpers can therefore determine the price - usually it is at least twice as high. Needless to say, this can lead to not only resentment, but to anger among the wronged party, who buy their desired product for horrendous prices. "Cloud" deals with this fascinating premise and even focuses on a reseller/scalper as the protagonist. This interesting perspective has a very special appeal.

Another thing that makes the movie so interesting is the director behind it. Kiyoshi Kurosawa has his very own style, which takes you into some kind of parallel world where everything seems a little bit out of place. Most recently, he was able to show off his skills in the 45-minute long "Chime". And more than 20 years ago he also created "Pulse", a piece of work I can even still remember to this day (which is not the case with a lot of movies). Therefore, you have to ask yourself what a movie might look like when he mixes revenge thriller and (sort of) action flick. And the answer is quite simple, the director deconstructs the two genres and creates his very own stage. It is already a bold choice to have the reseller as the "hero" of the story. So, you wonder whether "Cloud" is perhaps supposed to be some kind of origin story of a villain. At the same time, though, the director remains true to himself and introduces us to unusual characters, all of whom are hiding something or are up to something. The viewer is therefore sucked into a nice guessing game.

Let's take a look at Sano first. It's not quite understandable why he wants to help Yoshii out even more than he has to. He pretends to have only his "boss'" well-being in mind, but after a breach of trust it is not entirely clear how he will behave going forward. Then there is Yoshii's girlfriend, with whom the scalper moves in. Little by little, it becomes clear that her love for the reseller may not be as serious as it seemed and that she is extremely opportunistic instead. "Cloud" generally creates suspense by keeping it unclear how the individual characters will act next. This is also due to the fact that Kiyoshi Kurosawa's directing style has something fantastic about it that is not quite easy to detect at first. Because the images are captured in a very realistic way. This time he takes this contrast to extremes, as the movie can also be seen as a satire on online trading and can probably also be understood as a small critique of capitalism. This may not be obvious at first glance and therefore some things can seem quite absurd - especially the developments in the second half.

After all, our protagonist has made quite a few enemies. In most cases, their hostile tendencies can be quite understandable, but with Yoshii's former boss, things get rather ridiculous. That's the aforementioned fine line, that the director repeatedly crosses moving into more of a fantastic realm. The last hour eventually leaves you with the question of how exactly the reseller actually ended up in the factory building, in which he has to fight for his life. While "Cloud" could at first be seen as a slow thriller that also works on a dramatic level, even though the seemingly distant characters occasionally make things harder in this respect, the long finale proves to be an amazingly calm, but nevertheless gripping "action" movie. The (moderate) violence is also a driving factor and is used to illustrate Yoshii's change. Ultimately, he has to ask himself how he got himself into this hell.

The last scene is typical for the world into which the director wants to take us. Something that is hidden between dream and afterlife. While this can appeal to a wider audience in the horror genre, this may not be the case for the revenge thriller genre. Therefore, "Cloud" cannot be recommended to everyone. However, it is definitely a flick that features the director's typical style and will satisfy fans of Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Not least thanks to Masaki Suda ("Character") the movie doesn't feel quite as cold and distant as I expected. If you're looking for a revenge thriller of a different kind, you'll not only find it here, but you'll also get a few nice surprises on top of that. It's like watching an art house movie, only without the risk of falling asleep because instead you are being entertained quite nicely.

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