Ryosuke Yoshii (Suda Masaki) gets a question from his girlfriend Akiko (Furukawa Kotone) about what he says to his friend – he tells that friend that he wants to marry Akiko, and he means what he says. They get a house with the money he makes by buying cheap random goods and selling them higher. However, some sellers, despite getting a wind on his racket, still do business but that may not last for long. Eventually, enough of his customers carry a grudge big enough that they find out his address. He’s not totally friendless, but can he and his assistant Sane (Daiken Okudaira) shoot back against gun wielders out for revenge?

This look into the life of a Japanese reseller and his environment comes from famed auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa. And while taking place within a criminal underworld, this is a typical conflict between man and society. Viewers get to see what makes Yoshii tick but we also get to see others react to him, as there aren’t a lot of idiots in this world and Yoshii isn’t everyone’s first slime ball. Although there’s that first scene where he gives someone a low ball offer and that sucker takes it. Suckers take the back seat in Cloud, appearing as faceless consumers in store fronts or as online clickers.

A film taking place online doesn’t always make for riveting cinema, and Cloud is an arty slow burn. I guess there is something thrilling about watching Yoshii look at a computer screen but in increments. Thankfully, the film shows him out of his computer chair than in, ramping up some needed action. Yoshii’s scenes with Akiko give promise of stability, and of course, it delightfully disrupts that stasis. Every scene where he makes a deal gets more complex than the one prior as it would in tragedies. And by the time a masked vigilante breaks into his house, viewers know they’re in for a bumpy ride.

One other thing I almost forgot about Cloud is that it makes Yoshii relatable to most millennial viewers – he starts out living from one pay cheque to the next, but he finds his way out. Takimoto (Arakawa Yoshiyoshi), his boss, offers him a promotion but he chooses the black market instead. By the third act though, he’s on the run from some goons and eventually, they exchange several bullets. Maybe I’m making it seem like Kurosawa is offering up a morality tale but it doesn’t feel that way. It’s more about making us feel a cold atmosphere, which isn’t for the contemporary movie watcher. But there is a reward for people who ride it out and experience life in Yoshii’s precarious shoes.

For Toronto film lovers, Cloud is playing at TIFF.