Cloud (Kuraudo)

 Kiyoshi Kurosawa spent decades in the trenches directing whatever came his way; Before Cure, he made movies that went from something called Kandagawa Pervert Wars (Veteran of the Pervert Wars was, of course, Pink Oyster Cult's breakout record) to high-budget Japanese Poltergeist riff Sweet Home (I have seen that one, and highly recommend it). Then he made Cure, and from that point onward he took no more notes from anyone; He still does genre work - hell, he made my absolute favourite J-horror film - but he tends to twist genre conventions into sometimes unrecognizable shapes, driven by his weirdo sensibilities and offbeat sense of humour.

 All of this to say: don't expect a traditional genre movie out of Cloud. Elaborating on that is tricky, because it doesn't actually become a genre movie until after the halfway mark - and the genre it eventually settles into might not be what you're expecting.

 But until then Cloud follows the misadventures of Yoshii (Masaki Suda) as he tries to make a living by abusing the core capitalist verbs: buying and selling. After receiving a good sum for some health equipment (by ripping off the people who actually made them) he decides to quit his factory job and get a house in the suburbs where he can move in with his girlfriend (Kotone Furukawa), set up a storage area for his wares, and become a full-time online reseller. He takes on an employee - Sano (Daiken Okudaira), a local, slow-witted youth - and begins stepping up his operations. But his world starts coming apart when his business runs into trouble... and when he starts noticing shady people following him everywhere.

 Everything is handled in a realistic, deliberate manner for the first hour or so, even though this reality feels slightly off-kilter. But as Kurosawa's script starts turning the screws and the nature of the conspiracy against Yoshii becomes clear, things take a sharp turn towards the surreal; The film shifts into a paranoid thriller for a while until Sano pops back into the picture.

 And this is where I'd recommend you stop reading and go watch the movie if you'd rather be surprised. It's an excellent, beautifully filmed, surreal-tinged movie, and you're probably better off watching it unspoiled. 

 So here's the thing: once Sano comes back into the picture, he continues assisting Yoshii with a different set of skills. Which mostly involve guns. As it turns out, this is Kiyoshi Kurosawa's version of an action movie. And it's good action, too! Gritty and low-key, but dynamic and well executed. Don't expect complex choreographies or tons of violence - the feel is closer to a war movie than John Wick.

 The devolution into gun battles is completely ridiculous, and by design; Sure, Yoshii is clearly a douchebag - he's shown driving everyone around him away, and you could even say that he represents a lot of what's wrong with the world today. But his adversaries are hilariously unhinged, and the fact that they coordinate via internet forums should not be lost on anyone. The people here are driven by dream logic rather than rational or even genre logic.
 As with most surrealism, a rich, wicked vein of humour runs beneath the script, masked by an utterly deadpan delivery. Kurosawa's clinical, controlled direction, the sound design, and fine, committed performances from the actors (especially Suda - his facade of control while he descends into panic forms the backbone to the story) all run counter to these characters' bizarre interactions.

 It all comes together into something that's truly special, but also fairly impenetrable. David Lynch is a good reference, bearing in mind that Kuroswa's take on surrealism is fairly distinct from his. But as long as you're willing to meet the movie half-way, I'm happy to recommend it.