Cloud

Last night I decided to see a double feature at the Broadway and I began with Cloud because the trailer was so intriguing to me.  It is an intense and compelling psychological thriller and I honestly had no idea what would happen next at any given moment!  Ryosuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda) has a menial job in a Tokyo factory but he also has a side gig as an internet reseller.  After he scams a couple (Masaaki Akahori and Maho Yamada) desperate to sell their health devices and makes a massive profit after marking them up on his resell site, he decides to quit his job, even after his boss (Yoshiyoshi Arakawa) offers him a promotion, and cut ties with the friend (Masataka Kubota) who introduced him to the resell business.  He moves to a large and luxurious house in a suburb, which angers the locals, with his girlfriend (Kotone Furukowa), who soon grows bored and leaves, and hires a personal assistant (Daiken Okudaira), who he eventually fires for snooping into his business.  As Yoshii becomes more and more unethical in his dealings, several of those with grievances against him are able to connect through an online forum created by his disgruntled customers in order to dox him and this culminates in an epic shootout in an abandoned warehouse.  The first two acts are a very slow burn as Yoshii antagonizes the people in his life in an attempt to create a better life for himself but then the final act turns into a tension-filled action sequence with so many twists and turns that it is almost impossible to keep track of anyone's motivations (there were audible gasps from my audience).  The character of Yoshii is absolutely fascinating because I initially found him to be unsympathetic, especially when he is ambivalent about selling knock-off designer products to unsuspecting customers for exorbitant prices, but then I questioned the extreme response of those with grievances against him and actively rooted for him to succeed in the ensuing battle but then found the ambiguity of his fate to be strangely satisfying (Suda's performance is understated but riveting).  I also found the cautionary tale about digital actions having analog consequences to be fascinating because people often hide behind seemingly anonymous user names to say and do things online they wouldn't have the courage for face to face.  I was captivated by this (even more than I was anticipating) and I highly recommend it!