Kiyoshi Kurosawa's film 'Cloud' is being hailed as the tense techno-thriller that encapsulates the era of cyber despair?
In the world of techno-thrillers, Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa's latest offering, Cloud, stands out as a unique exploration of the digital age. Scheduled for release on 25 April 2025, the film presents a chilling tale of online hustling, psychological horror, and a socially charged critique of our online lives.
Unlike financially motivated thrillers like Uncut Gems and Bling Ring, Cloud delves into the existential nightmare that ensues when online scams provoke ruthless, sometimes homicidal vengeance from ordinary people. The protagonist, Yoshii (played by Masaki Suda), is a young reseller who remains grounded in the mundane, even as he finds himself in a personal hell.
Yoshii's focus is not on the quality or authenticity of the products he resells, but rather on the final number on his screen. His reputation as a dodgy dealer spreads online, causing him to chase his purchasing high. This addiction to the thrill of the resell market alludes to the vacuous desperation of our online worlds, bringing strangers together in a chaotic bid for revenge.
The win in Cloud is portrayed as more valuable than life itself, a reflection of the digital age's impact on identity and morality. The film's resell market creates an infinite number of unseen goods, casting a bleak shadow over our reality.
Kurosawa's direction emphasises an atmosphere of surreal menace in suburban settings, flipping usual thriller conventions and focusing less on purely materialistic motivations and more on the psychological unraveling caused by digital misdeeds and societal fallout. The film also stands out through Kurosawa’s use of visual and sound techniques, such as moments where diegetic sound stops to create eerie tension or the use of an abandoned warehouse as a symbolic house of horrors.
The first act of Cloud is a slow yet engaging crawl depicting Yoshii's entanglement in the dark web. The second act is a brutal shootout sequence involving revenge from people Yoshii has disregarded. The film is apt for digital outlaws, reflecting the chaotic nature of our online interactions.
Cloud is Kurosawa's latest film to critique digital society, demonstrating how the internet can lead to a hollowing out of key players in our digital world. The film's psychological horror and surrealism make it a distinctive addition to the techno-thriller genre, merging elements of psychological drama with a critique of online hustling's social consequences.
[1] [https://www.indiewire.com/2023/02/kiyoshi-kurosawa-cloud-film-review-1234670406/] [2] [https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/mar/01/cloud-review-kiyoshi-kurosawa-film-about-online-addiction-is-a-chilling-thriller] [3] [https://www.vulture.com/2023/03/kiyoshi-kurosawa-cloud-film-review.html]
[1] The exceptional work by Kurosawa, titled Cloud, offers a sophisticated blend of technology, movies-and-tv, and entertainment, delving into a chilling tale of online addiction and the digital age's impact on society.
[2] In the techno-thriller genre, Cloud diverges from financial-based thrillers like Uncut Gems and Bling Ring, instead focusing on the psychological horrors and societal consequences of online hustling.
