The following article is an excerpt from the new edition of “Reviewed by David Ehrlich”, a biweekly newsletter in which our chef Film Critic and Head Reviews Editor collects the latest reviews from the site and muses on current events in the film world. Subscribe here to receive the newsletter in your inbox every second Friday.
Given the state of affairs at home, I thought I’d give this week’s newsletter a decidedly foreign slant and focus what little attention I have left on my favorite contenders for this year’s Best International Feature race. The United States may feel like a lost cause right now, but the films can at least take us to idyllic places like… er, modern Iran and 18th-century Austria.
Okay, so maybe America isn’t special in its suffering, but until the shock of what just happened wears off, I’d honestly rather think of any country that doesn’t care about Joe Rogan. And while the admirable gonzo is but daringly miscalculated “Emilia Perez‘ could be a shoo-in for the Oscar, especially with Payal Kapadia’s wonderful ‘Everything we imagine as light‘ staying out of the race, I just see as one more reason to shine a light on the beautiful things our world still has to offer in small doses, especially since they are rarely so easily overlooked seen. I’d still like to catch up with some of the top contenders myself (with Palestine’s ‘From Ground Zero’ definitely at the top of my list, and Brazil’s ‘I’m Still Here’ not far behind), but first off you need to keep your eyes peeled for these six great films in the coming months.
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“Cloud” (Japan)
“Cloud”
An action film like no other “Healing‘ and ‘Pulse’ director Kiyoshi Kurosawa would think of making one, “Cloud‘ taps into the social discontent at the heart of his analog horror masterpieces in a sterile – but ultimately bullet-riddled – morality tale about the dehumanizing nature of digital communication. The first hour is a slow accumulation of the petty crimes (and other assorted insults) that the Internet allows people to commit against each other remotely and with the benefit of anonymity. The second hour observes what happens when these petty crimes reach critical mass, and the hostility brewing on social media spills over into the real world with the deadly force of a double-barreled shotgun. Not on time at all!
While Kurosawa’s work has long displayed a morbid fascination with the relationship between diffuse psychological distress and localized physical violence, “Cloud” updates the filmmaker’s signature focus on a modern world enmeshed in an infinite (yet invisible) network of petty atrocities and bitter grievances – a network so pervasive that even the better angels of our nature can drive us straight into hell. This compelling and highly unusual shoot-em-up is almost too mundane to care about until it becomes impossible to stop watching, for the same reason. Kurosawa returns to his roots, but discovers that psychological terror is not as abstract as he is. used to be. It’s extremely cool that Japan had the good sense to submit this film to the Oscars, and I hope that decision makes it easier for people to see it.
“Cloud” is currently looking for distribution in the US.
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