Cloud (film)

2024 Japanese thriller film

Not to be confused with Clouds (2000 film) or Clouds (2020 film).

Cloud

Theatrical release poster

Japanese| クラウド
Directed by| Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Written by| Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Starring| Masaki Suda
Cinematography| Yasuyuki Sasaki
Music by| Takuma Watanabe

Production
companies

* Nikkatsu
* Tokyo Theatres Company

[1]

Release dates

* August 30, 2024 (2024-08-30) (Venice)
* September 27, 2024 (2024-09-27) (Japan)

Running time

| 123 minutes
Country| Japan
Language| Japanese
Box office| $806,296[2]

Cloud (クラウド, Kuraudo) is a 2024 Japanese psychological thriller film written and directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and starring Masaki Suda.[3][1]

The film premiered out of competition at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, on 30 August 2024.[4] It was selected for the Best International Feature Film as the Japanese entry at the 97th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.[5]

## Plot summary

[edit]

Yoshii (Masaki Suda) is a factory worker who moonlights as an online reseller. We first meet him ripping off a supplier of health devices, which he later sells online at a substantial mark-up. With that profit, he turns down a promotion from his boss (Yoshiyoshi Arakawa) and instead expands his reselling business. He resigns from his job and moves into a larger house in a suburb, which he doubly uses as office and product storage. He asks his girlfriend, Akiko (Kotone Furukawa) to move in as well. He also hires an assistant, Sano (Daiken Okudaira) to help run the business.

Tension only escalates as Yoshii becomes more ruthless in his dealings. He is harassed, both online and in real life. Feeling increasingly neglected by Yoshii’s rather cold demeanor and preoccupation with his business, Akiko moves out of the house. Yoshii also fires Sano after he suggests potential new products to target.

While Yoshii is left alone by everyone, his disgruntled suppliers and customers get more emboldened through an online forum. When Yoshii’s new address is found, some of them decide to band together to enact revenge. The angry mobster is also joined by Yoshii’s jaded senior (Masataka Kubota) and former boss. They arm themselves and threaten Yoshii at his home. Yoshii escapes into the woods, leading to a cat-and-mouse chase. He manages to shake them off and, on his way back home, runs into Akiko. The two plan to salvage what’s left and flee. However, the group finds Yoshii again, and this time, succeeds in kidnapping him.

The group intend to burn Yoshii alive and stream it as punishment. Akiko secretly follows them. Sano, revealed to have shady connections himself, tracks Yoshii’s phone via GPS and intervenes. He guns down several attackers and rescues Yoshii. Yoshii questions him on why he goes too far, being just an ex-assistant. Eventually, they engage in a deadly shootout with the assailants and eliminate them.

The two men victoriously walk out of the place of the shootout. Outside, Yoshii meets Akiko, who had returned shortly after the house was attacked. Yoshii walks up to hug her, only to realize that she wants to shoot him dead to get his credit cards. However, inexperienced in firing a gun, she gets shot by Sano.

The final scene shows Sano and Yoshii driving into the distance. Sano urges him to keep working and making profit, promising everything Yoshii ever wants, even “things that can destroy the world”. Yoshii mutters, “So this is how you’re going to hell”, leaving Sano’s true nature and their situation ambiguous.[6][7]

## Cast

[edit]

* Masaki Suda as Ryosuke Yoshii, an internet reseller[6]
* Kotone Furukawa as Akiko, Yoshii's lover[6]
* Daiken Okudaira as Sano, Yoshii's assistant[6]
* Amane Okayama as Miyake, a man who resides in an internet cafe[6]
* Yoshiyoshi Arakawa as Takimoto, who owns the factory where Yoshii works[6]
* Masataka Kubota as Muraoka, who brings Yoshii into the online resale business[6]
* Yutaka Matsushige[8] as the yakuza
* Masaaki Akahori as Tonoyama Souichi, factory president[8]
* Maho Yamada as Chizuru, Tonoyama's wife[8]
* Mutsuo Yoshioka as Yabe[8]
* Yusei Mikawa as Inoue[8]
* Toshihiro Yagi as Hojo, a police officer[8]
* Yoshiyuki Morishita as Murota[8]
* Tetsuya Chiba as the hunter[8]

## Release

[edit]

Cloud premiered out of competition at the 81st Venice International Film Festival.[4] The film will be released in Japan on 27 September 2024.[9] and it was selected as Japan's entry for best international film for 97th Academy Awards.[10]

It was also selected in Gala Presentation at the 29th Busan International Film Festival to be screened on October 3, 2024.[11] It has been selected for the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 under the World Cinema section.[12]

## Reception

[edit]

### Critical response

[edit]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 52 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Writer-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa returns to the theme of technology being a haunting force with disturbing success in Cloud, a slow-burn examination of social media that ends with a bang."[13] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[14]

### Accolades

[edit]

Award  | Ceremony date  | Category  | Recipient  | Result  | Ref.

|
|
|
|
|

Sitges Film Festival | 13 October 2024 | Best Feature Film  | Cloud | Nominated  | [15]

## See also

[edit]

* Cinema of Japan
* List of submissions to the 97th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
* List of Japanese submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Raup, Jordan (13 February 2024). "Kiyoshi Kurosawa Will Now Premiere Three Films in 2024". The Film Stage. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
2. ^ "Cloud". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved July 28, 2025.
3. ^ Enicola, Paul Emmanuel (April 22, 2025). "'Cloud' QCinema 2024 Review: Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Uneasy Reflection on Schadenfreude, Greed, and Retribution". Themoviebuff.
4. ^ a b Billington, Alex (23 July 2024). "81st Venice Film Festival Selection - Guadagnino, Kurzel, Almodóvar". FirstShowing. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
5. ^ Rosser, Michael; Calnan, Ellie (September 5, 2024). "Oscars best international feature 2025: all the films submitted so far". ScreenDaily. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
6. ^ a b c d e f g "The main cast of the movie "Cloud" has been announced! Comments from the cast have also arrived". Cloud. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
7. ^ "Kiyoshi Kurosawa on creating a living hell in new thriller 'Cloud'". A Rabbit's Foot. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h "It has been revealed that Matsushige Yutaka, who gave a brilliant performance in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's early masterpiece, will appear in this film! Eight talented supporting actors have been announced". Cloud. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
9. ^ Billington, Alex (24 April 2024). "TRAILERS Freaky First Teaser Trailer for Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 'Cloud' Horror Film". First Showing. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
10. ^ "International Oscar Race: Japan Selects Venice Film 'Cloud' by Kurosawa Kiyoshi". Variety.
11. ^ "The 29th Busan International Film Festival: Selection List". Busan International Film Festival. September 3, 2024. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
12. ^ Scroll Staff (2024-10-09). "MAMI Mumbai Film Festival will open with Payal Kapadia's 'All We Imagine as Light'". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
13. ^ "Cloud". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
14. ^ "Cloud". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
15. ^ Romero, Miguel Ángel (10 September 2024). "Sitges 2024 anuncia su programación definitiva: las mejores películas de terror que podremos ver este año". Cinemanía (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 September 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Cloud at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Japanese submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

* Rashomon (1951)
* Gate of Hell (1954)
* Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1955)
* The Burmese Harp (1956)
* Aruse (1957)
* The Ballad of Narayama (1958)
* Fires on the Plain (1959)
* Late Autumn (1960)
* Immortal Love (1961)
* Being Two Isn't Easy (1962)
* Twin Sisters of Kyoto (1963)
* Woman in the Dunes (1964)
* Kwaidan (1965)
* Lake of Tears (1966)
* Portrait of Chieko (1967)
* The Sands of Kurobe (1968)
* Profound Desires of the Gods (1969)
* The Scandalous Adventures of Buraikan (1970)
* Dodes'ka-den (1971)
* Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (1972)
* Coup d'État (1973)
* The Fossil (1974)
* Sandakan No. 8 (1975)
* Mount Hakkoda (1977)
* Empire of Passion (1978)
* Gassan (1979)
* Kagemusha (1980)
* Muddy River (1981)
* Onimasa (1982)
* Antarctica (1983)
* MacArthur's Children (1984)
* Gray Sunset (1985)
* Final Take (1986)
* Zegen (1987)
* Hope and Pain (1988)
* Rikyu (1989)
* The Sting of Death (1990)
* Rhapsody in August (1991)
* The Oil-Hell Murder (1992)
* Madadayo (1993)
* Pom Poko (1994)
* Deep River (1995)
* Gakko II (1996)
* Princess Mononoke (1997)
* Begging for Love (1998)
* Poppoya (1999)
* After the Rain (2000)
* Go (2001)
* Out (2002)
* The Twilight Samurai (2003)
* Nobody Knows (2004)
* Blood and Bones (2005)
* Hula Girls (2006)
* I Just Didn't Do It (2007)
* Departures (2008)
* Nobody to Watch Over Me (2009)
* Confessions (2010)
* Postcard (2011)
* Our Homeland (2012)
* The Great Passage (2013)
* The Light Shines Only There (2014)
* 100 Yen Love (2015)
* Nagasaki: Memories of My Son (2016)
* Her Love Boils Bathwater (2017)
* Shoplifters (2018)
* Weathering with You (2019)
* True Mothers (2020)
* Drive My Car (2021)
* Plan 75 (2022)
* Perfect Days (2023)
* Cloud (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa

* Kandagawa Pervert Wars (1983)
* Sweet Home (1989)
* The Guard from Underground (1992)
* Cure (1997)
* Serpent's Path (1998)
* License to Live (1998)
* Charisma (1999)
* Séance (2000)
* Pulse (2001)
* Bright Future (2003)
* Doppelganger (2003)
* Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: House of Bugs (2005)
* Loft (2005)
* Retribution (2006)
* Tokyo Sonata (2008)
* Real (2013)
* Seventh Code (2013)
* 1905 (cancelled)
* Journey to the Shore (2015)
* Creepy (2016)
* Daguerrotype (2016)
* Before We Vanish (2017)
* Foreboding (2018)
* To the Ends of the Earth (2019)
* Wife of a Spy (2020)
* Cloud (2024)
* Serpent's Path (2024)

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