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In addition to Serpent's Path and Chime, Kurosawa now has a third(!) film set to premiere this year: a thriller titled Cloud.

Written by Kurosawa, the story centres on Ryosuke Yoshii, an enigmatic young man who tries to make money by reselling shrewdly obtained goods on the internet under the pseudonym ‘Ratel’.

Reflecting on the inspirations behind Cloud, Kurosawa said: “In the obscure corners of modern-day Japan, violent incidents sometimes occur for seemingly no reason whatsoever. When the causes are investigated, it becomes apparent that a system of sorts exists through which petty grudges and frustrations are accumulated and blown out of proportion by the internet. I wondered if such a phenomenon would serve as subject matter for an action film and began developing this project.”

That sounds like a really interesting project for KK, retooling his approach to simultaneously tangible but mysterious motivations and occurrences, by playing with genres and cultural ideas he has before but seemingly in a new way. I'm in

Cloud is a bit of a departure for KK - the subtext becomes text and the abstract threats are made tangible, which is a letdown to some degree. Still, it's interesting to watch him take a crack at a completely surface-level "conventional" thriller. KK is essentially making an Action genre film under his own brand of style that's a slow-burn for 90 minutes before any real violence occurs. I just wish it was more ominous and thematically layered, since he's engaging with technology again with a stance of urgency; but it feels hollow and aimless compared to his richer works on the subject.

Nice! Pity they couldn't get Chime as a supplement. This NFT crap hopefully not catch on as a business model for film distribution.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cloud

Hogfather wrote: Fri May 09, 2025 12:47 pm Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cloud

Trailer.

Had no clue the new Kurosawa was all about the very real phenomenon of online scalpers in Japan. I'm very intrigued!

A gonzo revenge thriller, a darkly comic anticapitalist critique, and a dizzying plunge into the alienated abyss of the internet, Cloud is among the most audacious genre experiments to date from master of psychological tension Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Factory worker Yoshii (Masaki Suda) quits his job to pursue his side business reselling questionably procured items online at outrageous markups. His profits quickly grow—but so does his list of enemies, and the petty grievances of his disgruntled clients and competitors soon take on a terrifying life of their own. With slow-burn precision, Kurosawa constructs a dread-inducing vision of digital depersonalization that ignites into something altogether shocking and unpredictable.

Criterion Premieres is a selection of new theatrical films presented on Blu-ray and DVD, released in association with the Criterion Channel.

Japan
2024
124 minutes
Color
1.66:1
Japanese
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
Meet the Filmmakers: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a Criterion Channel original interview
Trailer
Notes by critic Sean Gilman