If you’re up for criminally good time, ‘Cloud’ reigns
Is technology rendering us narcissistic sociopaths? Duh! Of course it is, and we’ve got “Cloud” to prove it. It’s the latest entry from visionary techno-horror maven Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a writer-director who accurately foresaw the Google machine as our potential undoing 25 years ago with the supernatural “Pulse.” Now he’s back, further unnerving us with this cautionary tale about an e-tailer who’s lost almost all touch with humanity.
His name is Yoshii, a vulture of sorts, swooping in on his prey and callously devouring them without a hint of remorse. And in the process, amassing a lengthy list of enemies. But no worries, the Internet makes him anonymous, or so he thinks, because Yoshii is about to get doxxed. That’s the barebones setup for an engrossing, genre-hopping nail-biter in which the leading man just may be the mortal manifestation of Satan. And it’s a hell of his own creation.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. So, allow me to backtrack a bit to the opening scene, when Masaki Suda’s Yoshii is picking the bones of a budding entrepreneur who gambled everything on a medical device that garnered close to zero sales. Yoshii is offering the mark only a mere percentage of what the machine cost to develop and produce. The dupe and his wife have no choice but to accept the pittance. Cut to Yoshii’s sterile lair, where his marketing skills lead to the gadget selling out in minutes, amassing a huge profit.
It’s hard to begrudge Yoshii. He saw an opportunity and capitalized on it. “Impulse and instinct,” as he calls it. It’s not his fault that he’s a better salesperson than the people he exploits. Still, there’s something more than a bit unsavory about how Yoshii does business. And you admire how Kurosawa and Suda combine forces to deliver such a complex, enigmatic character you want to hate but can’t.
You might even feel a bit sorry for him, given his even bigger opportunist girlfriend, Akiko (Kotone Furukawa). She desperately wants her man to succeed. Not because she loves him, but because she wants him to make enough money so she can quit her shit job and spend her days spending Yoshii’s profits. Ah, ain’t love grand?
If you sense an air of cynicism, you’re not wrong. But it’s never overt, just an occupational hazard for guys like Yoshii who never ponder the long-term consequences of their actions. As sure as tomorrow will follow today, Yoshii is becoming a marked man. And not even a move to a mountain abode outside of Tokyo is going to shield him from what’s about to rain down. I will say no more. Just know that everyone from the Tokyo police to a crazed stalker (Yoshi Yoshi Arakawa) has a bone to pick with Yoshii.
The payoff is an amazing third act in which action moves to the fore with pulse-pounding results. It can’t come soon enough, as the build-up begins to flag around the one-hour mark. But be patient because the payoff is well worth the wait. So are the performances. It’s a fabulous cast, with all members – especially Daiken Okudaria as Yoshii’s overeager assistant, Sano – going all in on the movie’s ever-shifting tone, which oscillates between intense drama and LOL comedy, accentuated by generous doses of irony.
There are no family ties between this Kurosawa and Japan’s maestro, Akira Kurosawa, but the two do share a knack for creating highly entertaining films doubling as social commentary. The corrupting influences of the Internet and social media aren’t what you’d call revelations, but in the capable hands of Kurosawa, they certainly are thrilling. As the title suggests, “Cloud” is dark and sometimes puffy, with moments of thunder and lightning that render it positively electrifying.
Movie review
Cloud
Rated: Not rated
Cast: Masaki Suda, Kotone Furukawa, Daiken Okudaria, Yoshi Yoshi Arakawa and Amane Okayama
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Runtime: 124 minutes
Where: In theaters July 18 (limited)
Grade: B
