Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Cloud” explores the dark side of digital capitalism

A still from Kiyoshi Kurosawa s Cloud Photo courtesy of Sideshow and Janus Films Credit Sideshow and Janus Films Right off the bat Cloud the new film from Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa manages to do the impossible find cinematic expression in the act of staring at screens Yoshii Masaki Suda works a run-of-the-mill factory job but moonlights as a reseller buying up luxury goods at a discount price and selling them for a profit online As Yoshii s first big sale of the movie unfolds specific sort of therapy machine the camera zeroes in on a computer screen as the products begin to sell out their icons rapidly blinking before going dark The camera slowly moves from the screen to Yoshii who is also staring at the screen blank-faced fully engrossed In the world Kurosawa has built slightly exaggerated but so close to our own he exposes cracks and fissures that betray the fundamental dearth of empathy in our digital capitalist age Cloud is a parable a funny horrifying encapsulation of how we are slaves to an internet that makes us apathetic And if we re not careful that apathy will kill us one day After the therapy machines sell out Yoshii makes enough of a profit to quit his factory job and move into the reseller business full time He takes his girlfriend Akiko Kotone Furukawa away from Tokyo to a much larger house in the suburbs progressively getting more merciless with his markups When he accidentally sells fake designer bags though the angry mob that s begun to form around his online dealings becomes much more real and dangerous There s something about Cloud that feels very Coen Brothers-esque a bunch of guys selected stupid particular scary getting caught up in a hair-brained violent scheme Kurosawa also has a similar talent for creating a world where even if a plot enhancement feels silly by our real world standards it makes sense within the tone of the world he has created The transition of an online mob from angry Redditors to very real people with very real guns is one of his most of audacious moves what if the faceless internet lurkers sending anonymous death threats suddenly materialized at your front door The funniest and scariest part of this world and perhaps the the greater part in line with how preponderance of us interact with the screens that are in front of us every day is how impassive everybody seems Even when faced with real brutality say a projectile thrown through his window Yoshii barely reacts When his new assistant Sano Daiken Okudaira finds the teenager who threw noted projectile and beats him forcing him to apologize at Yoshii s feet Yoshii doesn t bat an eye If it doesn t exist in the realm of his digital marketplace he doesn t really care Yoshii won t fire Sano for assaulting a kid but will if he touches Yoshii s computer without his permission Kurosawa has a real sense of how resentments breed between us his film Cure being the prime example In Cloud the things that create resentment stem from a similar place jealousy anger etc But the way resentments manifest is far more hive-minded and less personal The screen that separates Yoshii from his buyers makes it easy for him to treat them with zero dignity or respect But it s doubtful he s the true reason for their bitterness He s purely an easy target Staring at a screen all day inundated with slights both small and large can cause anyone to feel a little crazy One of the members of the group after Yoshii the one who sold Yoshii the fake designer bags in the first place joins the group on a whim after Yoshii beats him up Another is Yoshii s old boss Another is a guy preoccupied with punishing anyone whom he feels belittles him All of these people form a sort of stand-in for the internet a formless blob with little connection ready and willing to threaten dox and enact chaos on anyone who gets in their way When they first meet up someone asks who the leader is There isn t one comes the answer We re all doing what we want to The post Kiyoshi Kurosawa s Cloud explores the dark side of digital capitalism appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta