Cloud

Kiyoshi Kurosawa has a gift for finding the uncanny in any situation. His latest film, Cloud, sees the Japanese genre master returning to the techno-paranoia of his 2001 classic Pulse, but with a twist: Here, Kurosawa is exploring the horror of buying something online, only to find out that it’s a useless piece of plastic junk. Ryosuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda) makes his living peddling these knockoffs under the username “Ratel,” and is doing quite well for himself — that is, until an online community of embittered, unhappy customers uncover “Ratel’s” true identity and track him down IRL.

Cloud is an intriguingly bizarre entry into Kuroswa’s filmography, combining cosmic horror with an EC Comics-style morality tale and just a hint of Reservoir Dogs. An anti-capitalist action movie with a dark sense of humor and loads of bloody gunplay, it’s a warning to anyone who’s ever hidden behind the anonymity of the internet.

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