Unfolding at a hauntingly subdued register before unleashing its pent-up tension during its final act, director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cloud skewers the anonymity that characterizes our presence in online spaces. By tracing the fallout of an online scalper, Yushii (Masaki Suda), who gets his comeuppance from the people he’s ripped off, this modern techno-horror parable subverts the safety people feel when enacting cruelty from behind the screen. While virtual interactions may distance us from the people we may quarrel with, cheat, and insult, given the interconnected nature of the Internet, with enough persistence (and if you accept one too many website cookies), it’s not hard to get revenge within an arm’s (and gun barrel’s) reach—a reality Cloud explores to vicious effect.  While initially, it seems easy to side with the victims of the price gouging in this scenario (who doesn’t want to see scammers get their due?), Kurosawa complicates such defaults by giving Yushii’s hustle a relatable origin: Yushii is driven by thrill-seeking rather than profit-making. – Chicago Reader

“A masterful psychological thriller” – Japan Times