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Movies: Cloud (2024) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa: The Cyber-Ghost in the Machine

  • Writer: dailyentertainment95
    dailyentertainment95
  • Nov 2
  • 5 min read

Why It's Trending: A Japanese Master's Dive into Digital Danger

Cloud is trending due to its pedigree—a new feature from renowned director Kiyoshi Kurosawa—and its timely subject matter concerning online deception, earning it early recognition on the festival circuit.

  • The synopsis centers on Ryôsuke Yoshii, an online reseller whose life is jeopardized by mysterious events stemming from his digital activities, immediately tapping into contemporary anxieties about the internet.

  • The film has already secured early critical attention, evidenced by 77 Critic reviews and a Metascore of 76, indicating a significant level of engagement from film critics.

  • Kurosawa’s involvement guarantees attention from fans of Japanese Psychological Thrillers and Horror, as the film brings his signature style to a modern cyber-conspiracy premise.

Why to Watch This Movie: Kurosawa's Signature Dread Meets Online Anxiety

Watch Cloud to experience a master filmmaker's meticulous creation of suspense, blending the everyday with the terrifyingly virtual, anchored by strong performances.

  • Atmospheric Tension: The film excels in its early stages, using Kurosawa's signature style—long takes, focus on mundane details, and masterful use of silence and sound design—to create a profound sense of claustrophobic unease.

  • Top-Tier Genre Acting: The film features a strong cast led by Masaki Suda as the morally compromised protagonist, whose performance is noted for conveying layers of human vulnerability and moral complexity.

  • Relevant Thematic Critique: It offers a compelling look at the "dark side of the internet," critiquing the anonymity, deceit, and potential for exploitation that thrive in unregulated online spaces.

What Trend is Followed? The Cyber-Psychological Thriller

Cloud actively participates in the modern cinematic trend of the Cyber-Psychological Thriller, focusing less on physical action and more on paranoia, digital manipulation, and the blurring lines between the virtual and physical worlds.

  • The film is fundamentally about how actions committed under digital anonymity (Yoshii's reselling) can bleed into and ultimately destroy physical reality, a core trope of this genre, as seen in its descent into an "action-oriented revenge story."

Movie Plot: Deception, Exposure, and Retaliation

The plot charts the protagonist's descent from minor online dishonesty to facing life-threatening consequences when his virtual world unravels into physical danger.

  • The Setup: Ryôsuke Yoshii lives a double life, working a mundane factory job while running a lucrative, morally gray side business selling goods online.

  • The Escalation: Mysterious threats emerge, forcing Yoshii to relocate, suggesting his anonymity has been compromised by disgruntled buyers or external forces.

  • The Shift: The narrative moves from sustained psychological dread to an "action-oriented revenge story," where plausibility is sometimes questioned as Yoshii faces off against those tracking him down.

Director's Vision: Precision and Uneven Shifts

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's vision, as noted by critics, is one of tight formal control and mounting dread in the first half, though some find the film's transition in the second half less successful than his classics.

  • Maintaining Dread: Kurosawa masterfully turns the mundane elements of Yoshii’s life—the online hustle, the apartment living—into sources of threat, a familiar hallmark of his best work.

  • Visual Subtlety: The camerawork and sound design are described as sublime, effectively creating an immersive, high-stakes atmosphere even in quiet scenes.

  • Divisive Pacing: While the controlled first hour is praised, some critics note the film's pacing is uneven, with an abrupt shift into a "lesser film" action mode that throws "plausibility out the window."

Themes: Digital Morality and Anonymity's Price

The film explores deep questions about ethical behavior in the digital age and the illusion of safety provided by online pseudonyms.

  • Unscrupulousness: The film is an examination of unscrupulousness, showing questionable ethics on both sides: the seller exploiting consumer naiveté and consumers using vigilante tactics for revenge.

  • The Illusion of Anonymity: A key theme is the failure of digital anonymity, as Yoshii discovers that the web cannot fully shield his real-world identity from consequences.

  • Capitalist Critique: It raises questions about whether it is an indictment of a capitalist society exploiting the unaware or a consumer society seeking minimum quality for minimum price.

Key Success Factors: Kurosawa's Style and Thematic Relevance

The film’s primary success factors are its adherence to Kurosawa’s established, tense directorial style and its immediate resonance with current societal fears about the internet.

  • Formal Control: The tight editing and spatial clarity in action sequences are highlighted as rivaling genre masters, contrasting sharply with modern cinema’s reliance on "confusing and excessive editing."

  • A-List Japanese Talent: Having major stars like Masaki Suda and Kotone Furukawa elevates the project, ensuring strong dramatic weight for the character arcs.

  • Arthouse Appeal: Despite the action elements, the film maintains a strong arthouse appeal due to its atmosphere and philosophical undercurrents, making it notable among contemporary Japanese genre films.

Awards and Nominations: Festival Recognition

Cloud has garnered 1 win & 3 nominations total early in its run. Most notably, the film was selected as the Official submission of Japan for the 'Best International Feature Film' category of the 97th Academy Awards in 2025, marking it as Japan's key entry for international consideration

Critics Reception: Solid, Tense, but Imperfect Transition

Critics generally agree the film offers quality Kurosawa suspense but point to an imperfect structure in its shift of gears.

  • The Guardian: Though focusing on a different film, it notes that contemporary works must contend with the standard set by masters, implying high expectations for Kurosawa.

  • Take 2 Indie Review (for Knee High context): Other Kurosawa-adjacent work by the director is noted for its meticulous nature, suggesting a high bar for Cloud.

  • General Consensus: The first hour is highly effective in building dread and suspense, but the transition into a more conventional revenge/action structure is often cited as jarring or slightly diminishing the film's initial promise.

Reviews: Divisive Pacing, Thought-Provoking Core

Audience reviews reflect the critical split: admiration for the style versus frustration with the second half's logic and pacing.

  • rahuldeep-37247: Praises the film as "visually striking and thought-provoking," appreciating the atmosphere and critique of the internet, despite finding the pacing "uneven."

  • ffkirbuk: Calls it a "Solid thriller" with a "mounting sense of dread" and great action staging, though admitting it doesn't reach the heights of Cure.

  • lzx-40365 (Negative): Felt the film devolved into a "convoluted mess with zero logic," specifically criticizing a long action sequence as "incredibly boring."

What Movie Trend Film Is Following: The Cyber-Psychological Thriller

Cloud is a clear example of the Cyber-Psychological Thriller trend, where the primary source of conflict and horror is derived from the internet, digital anonymity, and the protagonist's entanglement in a hidden online world that spills into violent reality.

What Big Social Trend Is Following: Digital Privacy and Accountability

The film follows the major social trend concerning Digital Privacy and Online Accountability. As society grapples with misinformation, online scams, and the lack of consequences for digital bad actors, Cloud directly addresses the fear of being exposed and targeted after engaging in online malfeasance.

Final Verdict: A Visually Masterful, If Uneven, Kurosawa Cyber-Paranoia Piece

Cloud is a compelling, highly watchable thriller that showcases Kiyoshi Kurosawa's mastery of suspense and visual composition, though its ambitious shift from slow-burn psychological dread to direct action may divide audiences.

Key Trend highlighted – The film perfectly executes the modern Cyber-Psychological Thriller trope, focusing on the real-world dangers hidden behind a computer screen.

Key Insight – The film suggests that in the digital age, true anonymity is an illusion, and the veneer of online enterprise can quickly collapse into physical, life-threatening confrontation.

Similar Movies: Cinematic Echoes of Quiet Struggle

These films share thematic or stylistic similarities with Cloud, focusing on psychological tension derived from technology or moral compromise.

  • Cure (1997) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa: The essential reference point for Kurosawa's mastery of atmospheric dread and psychological manipulation, which Cloud attempts to replicate in a modern context.

  • Pulse (2001) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa: Another of Kurosawa's landmark films exploring how the internet/digital realm facilitates supernatural or existential horror.

  • Creepy (2016) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa: A more direct comparison, as this film also involves a morally ambiguous protagonist whose fascination with crime leads to increasingly dangerous real-world scenarios.


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