Yoshii (Masaki Suda) buys goods cheaply and sells them online at a higher price. When his operation starts turning a profit, he decides to quit his factory job in Tokyo and move into a house he purchased in a small town with his girlfriend Akiko (Kotone Furukawa). To help with the business, he hires a local young man named Sano (Daiken Okudaira).
However, it’s easy to turn a blind eye to the consequences of your actions when hiding behind a screen name, and Yoshii’s increasingly ruthless reselling earns him plenty of enemies. One unsettling incident follows another, and eventually, those holding a grudge against Yoshii begin to join forces through an anonymous online forum. What unfolds is a violent manhunt, where both identities and loyalties of the hunters are uncertain.
Cloud is a timely thriller from director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, in which online talk leads to acts of violence in the real world. The film had its world premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival and has since screened at festivals including Toronto, Busan, and Mumbai. Cloud was also Japan’s official submission for the 2024 Oscars.
An advance screening of Cloud took place at the Midnight Sun Film Festival in Sodankylä on Friday, June 13.
Finnish Film Foundation Import Support, 2025.
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Kiyoshi Kurosawa (b. 1955) is one of Japan’s most internationally renowned film directors.
Kurosawa is known both as a director of suspense and as a chronicler of difficult family and romantic relationships. He works with many genres and their combinations. Cloud originated from his desire to make an action film—though, in his characteristic style, a sense of oppressive atmosphere is strongly present.
Kurosawa’s most internationally recognized film is undoubtedly the psychological horror classic Cure (1997), which also marked the beginning of his long-term collaboration with actor Kōji Yakusho. The family drama Tokyo Sonata (2008), which won an award at Cannes, was broadcast in Finland on YLE Teema in 2011. The story of a deceased husband’s return, Journey to the Shore (2014), was shown at the Helsinki Cine Aasia fim festival, while the serial killer thriller Creepy (2016) screened at the Love & Anarchy (HIFF) film festival. The historical spy drama Wife of a Spy (2020) won the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival.
Cloud is the first Kiyoshi Kurosawa film to be released theatrically in Finland.
