Kiyoshi Kurosawa has spent the autumn competition season dazzling critics with “Cloud,” a thriller that follows the petty feuds of a sleazy on-line reseller to their bloody ends in an excellent send-up of the web’s distinctive means to attach individuals who would by no means in any other case notice that they hate one another. The movie earned rave critiques after its Venice premiere on its technique to being submitted as Japan’s official entry to the Academy Awards. It has obtained the form of response that may be a dream come true for any filmmaker — and it’s simply one in all three new movies that Kurosawa launched this 12 months.
The “Cure” director is basking within the aftermath of a artistic scorching streak. Having additionally unveiled “Serpent’s Path,” his gender-swapped French-language remake of his 1998 thriller of the identical title and the 45-minute horror movie “Chime,” he’s at the moment within the midst of a globetrotting competition odyssey to advertise all three. This week noticed him make his first journey to Los Angeles in 15 years for Beyond Fest and an American Cinematheque retrospective, which paired screenings of all three new movies with 4 of his basic works. Throughout a quick lull within the pleasure, the Japanese auteur sat down with IndieWire for a dialog carried out by an interpreter. How is he holding up after taking pictures three motion pictures in a single 12 months?
“First and foremost, it was fun,” Kurosawa stated with fun. “It was probably my busiest year in my entire career. Back in the late ’90s, I remember it was lower-budget stuff, but I was shooting five projects in a year, so I knew that three in a year is possible. It was actually a good experience.”
The “Serpent’s Path” remake was Kurosawa’s second French movie, following his 2016 horror movie “Daguerrotype.” He defined that he was approached by French producers about remaking any one in all his personal works, and instantly singled out the thriller as a chance to place his personal stamp on a movie that he didn’t initially write. Whereas he joked that the method of directing in a international language continues to be “not easy,” he relishes the chance to assemble a secure of repeat French collaborators by bringing again many of the crew from “Daguerrotype.”
“[I chose it] because the story is good, the script is solid, but it’s not mine,” he stated of the mission. “The writer is Takahashi Hiroshi, who is famous for writing ‘Ring.’ It’s wonderful, but I wanted to make it truly mine, and take his imprint out of it and place my complete view on it.”
With “Cloud,” Kurosawa utilized his distinctive knack for capturing alienation to an motion flick set on this planet of on-line purchasing. He defined that he grew to become curious in regards to the much-maligned practices of promoting (typically pretend) items on the web earlier than realizing that it was a window into lots of the bigger forces shaping our present social ills.
“I actually had a friend who was a reseller on the internet, so I just got interested and asked him how it’s done. When it comes to reselling, I’m not sure how it is in the U.S., but in Japan it’s not seen as that legit. It has this impression that it can be schemey. It’s a barely-legal vibe,” he stated, although he added that he doesn’t all the time agree with the sleazy characterization of the observe. In his eyes, it’s an inevitable byproduct of a market-oriented financial system. “The idea of buy it cheap, sell it high. It’s capitalism. It’s what companies do anyway. I think it’s also a symbol of where we’re at in the 21st century with the internet. This is a path to making a living.”
“Cloud” may be one of many timeliest motion pictures in regards to the malevolent influences of the web in current reminiscence, however it’s not the primary time Kurosawa has tackled the topic. His 2001 horror movie “Pulse” utilized a supernatural lens to the topic, however a long time of watching the know-how mature helped the auteur supply a extra exact portrayal of it.
“‘Pulse’ was over 20 years ago now, and at that time the internet was booming and exploding, but no one really knew the answer to ‘where is the internet connected to?’” he stated. “Now we’re in 2024 and the internet is an everyday tool now, and it can be used for good and bad. Everyone understands that now.”
If something, Kurosawa seems much less eager about exploring the web itself than the age-old flaws in human nature that it was destined to amplify.
“I think the issue isn’t that the internet makes humans isolated and lonely, but it’s actually humans who are isolated and lonely who seek out the internet,” he stated. “If you feel lonely and isolated, it’s in your heart. It takes up a little space in your heart. I think that the internet has this power to collect those, those little pieces of isolation and loneliness, and then just make it expand.”
He continued, “If this was applied to a good thing and it’s amplified through the internet, it’s great. If it’s a negative thing, I think that these collections of feeling isolated, and then that getting amplified in the internet, it does pose a danger, I think, and it poses a constant danger. In the case of ‘Cloud,’ it’s a collection of not only negative feelings, but these multiple people, a collection of multiple bad people.”
Whereas a lot of the thrill surrounding Kurosawa’s Beyond Fest look centered round “Cloud,” the screening sequence allowed cinephiles to position his profession in a bigger perspective. After first rising on the world stage within the Nineties as a horror director, he has spent a lot of the twenty first century floating between genres. “Cloud” noticed him dip his toe into the motion house to nice success, and he’s desperate to see which style his obsession with movie historical past may lead him to subsequent.
“Genre film is film to me,” he stated. “To me a genre movie is a movie. A producer might come to me with an idea or a script, or I might say, ‘I want to make this kind of film.’ What I’m always very conscious about is, whatever film I’m making, how does it fit into overall film history. I can make something from nothing, but there’s usually a desire. For me, the process of filmmaking is to discover.”
“Cloud” is at the moment in search of U.S. distribution.
