Cloud/Charisma Masters of Cinema Blu-ray Review

4 star excellent duo of Japanese thrillers.

Cloud/Charisma are two films from the fertile imagination of Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Journey to the Shore). Although made 25 years apart and very different films, they are both great psychological thrillers, each bearing Kurosawa’s unmistakable style and both equally enjoyable.

They are presented here as a Limited Edition boxset, making their UK Entertainment debut as part of the Masters of Cinema Series #337 and #338. They are available on Blu-ray from 26th January 2026 courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.

“You operate on impulse and instinct? No effort whatsoever? Even though that’s wrong somehow?”

First up we have Cloud, Kurosawa’s latest film, released in 2024 and telling us the story of Yoshii (Masaki Suda – Sunset Sunrise, The Boy and the Heron).  He is a young man who has big plans to make his fortune as an online reseller. He cons Mr. Tonomaya (Masaaki Akahori – Shin Ultraman) into selling his medical devices way under value and then makes a killing online.

Despite the insistence of his senior at work that he has management potential, he takes the decision to quit his job and move away from Tokyo to a large lake house where he can run his online business away from prying eyes. His girlfriend Akiko (Kotone Furukawa – Sisam, To Mom with Love) moves in with him on promises of a better life and more money and he takes on a local assistant Sano (Daiken Okudaira – Yukikaze) to help him out. He thinks things are going fine, but Akiko is getting fed up of his neglect, the people he has scammed online are starting to mobilise against him and the police are starting to get interested in his work. How can he get out of this predicament?

“Somebody you’ve never met. People like us keep billowing up around Ratel. Like clouds in the sky.”

This is a superbly written psychological thriller which keeps you guessing right to the end with a couple of nice twists and turns and excellent acting throughout. The first half builds the tension very well, with all sorts of mysterious goings on and strange events, while the second half sets off on a fast paced action packed and brutal finale.

“Without all the paraphernalia, the tree itself is nothing special. That’s what you’d think right? But it’s not true.”

 The second film included in this box set is Charisma, originally released in 1999. This tells us the tale of Yabuike (Koji Yakusho – Perfect Days, 13 Assassins), a hostage negotiator who is dismissed from his job after a catastrophic day on the job.

He is driven to a remote location and dropped off at the side of the road to find his own way. He blunders through a wood, finds himself in a burning vehicle and eventually ends up at a cabin in the woods, where he meets Nakasone (Ren Ôsugi – The Tiger, Audition) and Tsuboi (Akira Ôtaka – Paradise Next, Cure), both of whom are obsessed with a tree, growing on private land, protected by a young man and surrounded by scaffolding.

He meets said young man, Kiriyama (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi – Space Battleship Yamato), a former inmate of the now derelict local sanatorium and decides to move in with him and help him tend the tree. He also meets Jinbo (Jun Fubuki – Pulse, Dollhouse), a botany professor who is studying the forest and believes that the tree is a rare imported variety which is poisoning the forest, as well as her sister Chizuru (Yoriko Dôguchi – Tampopo, Silence), who seems to be a bit of a nutter.

With his former life gone, he moves around in amongst the life and times of this mysterious tree known as Charisma, maybe even determining it’s fate.

“What the f*** is it with this forest?”

Charisma is a very interesting film. It’s slow paced, measured and deeply thought provoking in places. It’s also ambiguous, occasionally confusing and not for you if you just in it for the action. Personally I found it quite relaxing in a disturbing kind of way. The acting is brilliant and the characters compelling, well worth a watch.

Cloud/Charisma is available to own now on Limited Edition Blu-ray.

LIMITED EDITION TWO-DISC BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Limited edition of 2,000 copies
• Limited edition exclusive bonus disc
• Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju)
• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on Charisma and Cloud by East Asian film expert and Midnight Eye co-founder Tom Mes
• 1080p HD presentations of both films across two Blu-ray discs
• Original Japanese audio (Uncompressed LPCM 2.0 for Charisma, DTS-HD MA 5.1 for Cloud)
• Optional English subtitles, revised for this release
• New audio commentaries on both Charisma and Cloud by Japanese cinema expert Jonathan Wroot
• A Cerebral Cinema – new video essay exploring the work of Kiyoshi Kurosawa by Japanese cinema expert Joe Hickinbottom
• Original theatrical trailers